


Trolls Cinderella

by Bluemoondreams



Category: Trolls (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cinderella Fusion, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Angst, Eventual Romance, Fairy Tale Retellings, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Male Cinderella, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-19 06:30:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11307663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluemoondreams/pseuds/Bluemoondreams
Summary: Troll's Cinderella. Creek is playing our Cinderella and Branch is the prince. Hey this should be fun!





	1. Chapter one

Trolls Cinderella.

Chapter one:

Once long ago there was a good troll King named Peppy and his fair troll Queen Rosiepuff, the couple had one son named Sky he had married a troll named Pansy, their first child was named Branch and five years later they had a daughter named Poppy, unfortunately during the birth of this child Pansy died. Sky mourned the death of his wife so deeply that he soon followed Pansy into the after life and it was at this time that Branch turned grey with sadness over the loss of both his parents. After their deaths King Peppy and Queen Rosiepuff were left to raise their two grandchildren, which they did to their best of their abilities but it saddened them both that they could not bring the colours back to their grandson.

Poppy grew to be a beautiful troll, she was happy, positive, full of fun, song and dance but yet stubborn and determined. Branch on the other hand was wise, serious, withdrawn, he was just like his sister was also stubborn and determined but unlike Poppy he never sung or danced. Poppy had made many friends they called themselves the snack pack, they even included the older Branch and Creek a purple spiritual troll as part of their group, but it was clear from the beginning that these two male trolls did not get on in the slightest. Creek loved to torment the grey troll, any female troll Branch fell in love with the purple troll enjoyed making them his girlfriend before Branch ever got a chance to tell them of his feelings, Creek also liked to mock Branch for being grey and he was the one responsible for the other trolls all calling him the gloomy prince not that Creek ever admitted to this fact. This nickname caused the prince to retreat further from the other trolls, however as Peppy grew older Branch began to take over many of the day to day duties of running the kingdom which caused a lot of the trolls to start to see their grey prince in a different light, as they began to see what kind of King he was going to be one day.

Peppy and Rosiepuff were very proud of their grandson but they worried about the fact that he lived his life in such an isolated way, aside from his sister and them Branch wasn’t really close to any of the other trolls. They knew most of this came from, the loss of his parents, as well as being teased by other trolls about being grey and his nickname of the gloomy prince. The King and Queen both wanted their grandson to be happy, they felt that maybe if he found himself a life mate then perhaps this would help to make Branch more cheerful. Peppy and Rosiepuff had talked for a long time about how they could help their grandson find that one special troll for him and eventually the royal couple had settled on holding a grand ball, so that Branch had the chance to meet as may eligible troll’s as possible, but they also felt that it would be wise to wait until Branch was twenty five which was two years away.

With their decision was made Peppy and Rosiepuff went to see Branch, who was working hard in his study as he often did. “Grandson?” The old King said to the grey troll as they stood in the doorway of the room.

The prince looked up at his grandparents, he gave them a slight smile glad to see them and then gestured them into his study. “Grandpa, Grandma, can I help you both?”

Side by side the two older trolls entered the prince’s study and then settled themselves into the two chairs on the other side of Branch’s desk from where he was sitting. “As you know Branch I will soon be retiring as King of the troll tree. You have been doing a wonderful job of taking over the duties of King from me, we are both very proud of you Branch and your grandma and I both think that when the time comes you are going be a wonderful King but we do have some concerns.”

“Oh, what worries are those grandpa?” Branch asked him with concern and curiosity.

King Peppy took a deep breath, he knew that he needed to word what he was about to say carefully and did his best to do so. “We are worried that you spend so much time alone…We also think that you should think about taking a life mate Branch…Ruling alone wouldn’t be easy.”

Branch’s heart gave a lurch and a faintly ill feeling swept through the prince as his grandpa mentioned the idea of him trying to find a life mate. Branch took a few moments to calm himself, he had known that his grandparents worried about him, the prince wished he could ease their concerns about his single state but the grey troll know that wasn’t possible. “I know ruling alone wouldn’t be easy grandpa…But although I’ve been in love it’s never really ended well for me…Besides which can you honestly ever see any troll loving me…I don’t want to marry a troll I don’t love, you know that the healers have said that if I did do so it would more than probably make my grey condition even worse. Unfortunately for me it appears that no troll in the troll tree seems to be able to see beyond my grey condition to me.”

Rosiepuff placed a hand onto his and then said softly to the grandson she loved so much. “We know it’s not going to be easy for you Branch but…Please at least think about it…I’ve sure there is a troll out there who will see beyond your colours to you…”

“I’ll think about it grandma.” The grey troll promised her, Branch felt this was the least he could do, he did understand their concerns, it was times like this when the prince hated his grey colouring and the way that it effected his life.

After this conversation with his grandparents Branch found that his mind was to full of conflicting thoughts to continue on which his work, so the prince pushed what remained of his work to one side and left the royal pod. He made his way through the troll tree lose in thought, the prince went for a long walk in the forest trying to get his thoughts into some kind of order so he could deal with them. After walking for some time, the grey troll let out a sigh, he stopped walking it was clear to him that his mind was not going to settle tonight and that he was going to have to do something different to settle them. Branch knew that only his family knew why he was grey and why he didn’t sing but tonight from somewhere the urge to sing to try and still his thoughts was bubbling up in him. Slowly for the very first time since he had lost his parents Branch gave his voice wings, he totally unaware of two trolls other out on a walk together themselves in the forest as they came across him singing and got the surprise of their lives.

“Every day of my life is a grey day,  
I see no colour, yet I look for a rainbow.  
I wait for the rain of hope to wash my pain away  
But no rain falls to ease my heart.

Every day of my life is a grey day  
They call me the gloomy prince,  
What do they know of my heart?  
What do they know of my soul?  
What do they know of my spirit?

Every day of my life is a grey day  
Clouds of pain rolled in to cloud my way  
I wait for the wind of love to push them away  
But no wind comes to blow love into my life.

Every day of my life is a grey day  
They call me the gloomy prince,  
What do they know of my heart?  
What do they know of my soul?  
What do they know of my spirit?

Every day of my life is grey day  
I seek the sunshine of a brighter life  
I wait for the light of happiness to help the flower bloom  
But no sunshine comes and the flower withers and dies.

Every day of my life is a grey day  
They call me the gloomy prince  
What do they know of my heart?  
What do they know of my soul?  
What do they know of my spirit?

Every day of my life is a grey day  
With colours lost to the grave,  
Hope lost to the all consuming darkness,  
With my heart and soul crying out for you,  
Happiness is nothing but a distant memory…

Every day of my life is a grey day…  
Yes every day of my life is a grey day…”

“Oh wow…!” The female voice said after he finished singing, startled Branch he turned to find his sister and Creek standing there, they were both staring at him in wide eyed wonder. “Oh wow…Brother I had no idea you could sing like that…It was amazing”

Branch was surprised when instead of saying something usually derogatory to him, Creek simply continued to stand there and stare at him. The grey troll blushed slightly, then addressed his sister. “I hadn’t sung for years…To be honest I was expecting my voice to sound terrible. Did I interrupt your date with Creek?”

Poppy shook her head at her brother and then smiled at him. “Oh no, no, we did date a few years back, but well we decided we were better off as friends.”

“Oh I see.” The grey troll said softly, his eyes strayed to Creek for a few moments as he wondered how the purple troll felt about his sister’s words.

“I hope you’ll sing again soon…But maybe something a little more positive.” The pink troll said to the grey troll drawing his eyes away from Creek and back to her.

“Maybe if I have something positive to sing about then I will.” He said softly to his sister, Poppy grinned at her brother she ran across the clearing, flung her arms around him and hugged Branch close, glad to hear him say he would think about singing something more positive.

Slowly the prince returned her hug, holding his little sister close to him, as they broke the hug Poppy grinned up at her brother. “You really do have such an amazing voice it would be a crime for you not to sing again.”

“Thank you sister.” The pink troll smiled at her brother again before releasing him from the hug, she then turned, gave her brother a wave which he returned and headed back towards the troll tree.  
Branch was surprised to find that despite the fact Poppy had left Creek was still standing there watching him and the grey troll found himself asking the other troll. “What is it Creek?”

“Your aura is different tonight…”

“Is that a good thing?” The prince asked with some concern.

The purple troll shook himself slightly to dislodge the dazed state Branch’s singing had caused him to be in and then answered this question. “I think so…It feels like something is going to change for you soon.”

Knowing that the spiritual troll had no idea about what his grandparents had spoken to him about earlier in the day, Branch felt that for the very first time that Creek was telling him something he needed to take note of so for once the grey troll said softly. “I’ll remember that.”

Creek felt his eyes widen, Branch had never spoken to him in such a gentle way before, the grey troll assuming that with this said that the purple troll would now return to the troll tree turned away from him. The grey troll then climbed up a nearby plant and instead of going home as he had meant to the spiritual troll found himself following the prince up the plant. Branch settled down on one of the high leaves of the plant he looked up at the moon, totally unaware of Creek a few leaves bellow him on the plant the grey troll spoke. “Hey mum, hey dad…Somethings going to change…I wonder what he meant…I get a feeling that Creek is right, which is strange on its own. You’d laugh if you were still here mum, you where such good friend with Creek’s mother and well I get along with her just fine, but Creek and I we hate each other so that makes me wonder why I…Ugh…I wish you were here dad, that troll confuses me no end, there are times I want to strangle him and times I want to…Well that part is best not said but I do get that feeling you use to tell me about, I wonder if I inherited it from you dad…I know I should talk to grandpa about it, but I know thinking about you makes him sad. Find some troll to love they say, there will be a troll out there who will see me beyond the grey, yeah like that’s going to happen thanks to Creek all they see is the gloomy prince and the one who will take care of the kingdom after grandpa dies…I better get home and get some sleep. Night mum, night dad and don’t worry I’m watching over and taking care of Poppy just like you asked me too.”

Knowing that Branch would be coming back down the plant Creek pressed himself back against the plant and blended in to it. The spiritual troll held his breath hoping that the grey troll wouldn’t notice him as he watched the prince go passed him, Creek let out relived breath when he wasn’t spotted by the prince but the purple troll still waited until Branch was well out of sight before he then came out of hiding. Creek hadn’t known that Branch was friends with his mother just as his own mother had been and the spiritual troll also hadn’t known that the other troll spoke to his parent’s spirits. Listening to the grey troll tonight had given the spiritual troll an insight into the other troll's life which he hadn't had before, one which made Creek feel like the biggest idiot to have ever lived. The purple troll wondered what the prince had been talking about…What had Branch inherited from his father? Creek made his way back to the troll tree, the purple troll went to bed that night with a lot of things on his mind from his day all of them to do with the prince.


	2. chapter two

Chapter two:

The day after this encounter with the prince in the forest Creek went in search of the grey troll, he located him supervising the placement of some new pods. As soon as the purple troll noticed the prince he felt his heart pick up its pace and Creek felt terribly nervous about what he was going to do. After all trying to make peace with a troll he had spent most of his years teasing wasn’t going to be easy to manage, but Creek felt it was well worth the effort to make emends with Branch after all he now knew that the prince had a lot to deal with and they were now fully grown trolls not children any more. “Good morning prince Branch.”

“Good morning Creek was there something I can help you with?” Branch asked this question cautiously unsure why the purple troll was approaching him and at the same time waiting for him to either say something about last night or to mock him in some way.

“I’m not in need of any help but it was kind of you to ask. I see there are a lot of new pods to be placed…Have you thought about the east side of the tree?” Creek asked slowly moving closer to Branch trying to show that he wasn’t going to do anything untoward.

The grey troll looked down at the map of the troll tree with its various pods in his hands and frowned for a moment with concentration. “The east side, no I will admit I thought that perhaps it would be too bright in the mornings for most trolls.”

“Some trolls like morning sun. My families pod is on that side of the tree and I know my mother and myself both like having the sun in the morning and the shade in the evenings.” Creek said casually coming to stand at the shoulder of the prince and looking down at the map he held in his hands. Branch wasn’t use to another troll outside of his family this close to him, it made the grey troll feel a little nervous, he was sure that he could feel the heat radiating off of Creek as he stood at his left shoulder and pointed down at the map. “There are couple of areas just here and here I think would be good for pods, of course you should inspect them just to be sure…After all I don’t know how placing pods on the tree works and what you might need, but the branches just there are very sturdy.”

Branch looked from the purple finger on his map to the troll it belonged to, he was surprised that Creek appeared to be helping him and the prince wondered for a moment if this was a subtle way of the spiritual troll showing the other troll’s how useless he was. At the same time as the grey troll thought this he also knew it was very rare for Creek to admit that he didn’t know anything about something or that his knowledge of the subject might be better that his own which made him more than a little confused. “Thank you for pointing that area out, I and my workers will go and look it over to see if it might be viable for new pods.”

Slowly Creek removed his finger from the map drawing Branch’s attention to him once more, he deliberately locked gazes with the prince, their gazes held there was something in the gaze of the purple troll which looked a little like respect and regret Branch decided. The moment was broken when one of the workers called out to the prince. “Prince Branch we could use your help!”

Without thinking about it the grey troll simply folded up the map, he shrugged out of his unassuming black jacket, he lay them to one side and then the prince rolled up shirt sleeves before walking over and using his dark hair to help the workers to move the new pod into position. Creek stood watching him work, he could feel a new found respect for the prince growing inside him, Branch was clearly a troll that the workers knew they could rely on for help and they also didn’t fear asking him for that help which spoke highly of the grey troll. Some female giggling from nearby caught the purple troll’s attention, he turned to see several female trolls sitting on a nearby branch watching the male troll’s working together. Curious about what they were talking about the purple troll twitched his ears in their direction to catch what they were saying. 

“Their all so strong…” One said with a sigh.

“Even the gloomy prince is joining in.” Another pointed out eagerly.

There was some nasty snickering and then one of the female trolls said. “If the gloomy prince wasn’t such a kill joy he’d make some troll a fine catch.”

For the first time Creek began to realise the damage he had caused the prince’s reputation and to the grey troll’s chances of finding a troll to love him. The purple troll felt guilt bubbling up inside him, Branch may not be like the rest of them, but Creek was starting to realise that he worked hard to keep all of the trolls safe, happy and protected. The spiritual troll had never before now taken the time to look at all of the work Branch did, but it was becoming clear to him that there was a lot that the prince did for them all and Creek felt those feelings of respect for the grey troll grow a little more it was a strange but not unpleasant feeling the purple troll decided.

It was later in that same day that from his pod window that Creek watched Branch and his workers as side by side they pulled some pods into position near his own pod. After pulling one new pod into place the prince had looked up from his work and seen him watching, Creek felt himself blushing, for some reason the intense gaze of the prince as it fell on him it made the spiritual troll feel like some errant school troll. Then much to the purple troll’s surprise Branch smiled slightly and raised one hand in greeting, quickly Creek returned this gesture.

A short while later the spiritual troll made his way down to the working trolls bringing with him a tray on which were glasses, a pitcher of water and a plate of cupcakes. Once he was closer Creek waited until the other trolls had finished moving the pod they were working with into place before calling out to them all. “I thought you all might like a drink and something to eat!”

The workers all looked to their prince for permission, Branch gave them a single nod, the worker trolls didn’t have to be told twice they quickly made their way over to were Creek was standing and as they helped themselves to the refreshments the workers all thanked him for the cakes and water. The grey troll however had turned back to inspect the new pod, quickly Creek grabbed a glass, he filled it with water before sweeping up a cup cake and carrying it over to Branch, holding them out to him before saying very awkwardly. “Here your highness you should eat and drink something too.”

“Thank you Creek…” The grey troll frowned slightly as he said this as it felt a little strange to thank Creek for something.

The prince accepted the glass of water which the purple troll was holding out to him, the prince drank the water, once he had finished drinking Branch looked at the cupcake for a moment and then turned his gaze onto Creek. Noticing that the prince was looking at him in a suspicious way, the purple troll felt himself blushing as it was clear that the other troll wasn’t at all sure about eating this offered cupcake. Creek had never felt so uncomfortable or ashamed of himself as he did in that moment, the spiritual troll wanted to assure the prince that there was nothing in the cupcake which was true, but Creek had a funny feeling that Branch wouldn’t believe him and the purple troll couldn’t blame him for that. Taking a deep breath, the purple troll held the cupcake towards Branch once more and said the only thing he could think of. “My mother made them.”

Creek felt even more ashamed as it was only when he said this that some of the distrust left Branch’s eyes and he accepted the cupcake and ate it. Once the workers as well as Branch had finished with their break they went back to work and soon they had the last few pods in place. The prince carefully checked the pods were secure and when he was happy that they were Branch thanked the workers for their hard work and sent them off home. When the grey troll turned around he was surprised to see that Creek was still standing there and that the other troll was watching him closely. There was something about the way in which the spiritual troll was looking at him which made Branch wonder what exactly it was he was looking for in him. “What made you decide to help me today?” The prince asked Creek curious to see what his answer would be to this question.

“Last night…I started to realise a lot of things…I owe you a massive apology for my passed behaviour…I don’t expect you to accept my apology or believe me when I say I want to make up for the past.” As he spoke Creek kept his eyes locked with those of the prince trying with both his eyes and voice to convey that he was being honest in his words.

Branch looked at the purple troll for a long while, he couldn’t quite believe that Creek was apologising to him or that he wanted to make up for things in their passed. “Your right I don’t believe you, but I’m willing to give you a chance to prove yourself to me. Don’t make me regret this Creek.” Branch told him with a note of warning to his voice.

“I promise I won’t make you regret this.” Creek promised him, his heart filling with hope that at least the grey troll was willing to give him this chance. As Branch gave him a nod and walked away the purple troll promised himself that he wouldn’t squander this chance and would prove to the prince that he could be trusted.

Two years passed by quickly and although Branch didn’t find a troll to love during this time, his relationship with Creek did improve over that same two years. The purple troll had kept his promise to his prince, he hadn’t betrayed his trust, in fact Creek had gone out of his way to show Branch that he could be trusted. Over time the prince had come to trust the spiritual troll, they were now good friends and spent quite a bit of time talking about various subjects which they had discovered they shared an interest in. The purple troll had even apologised for the nickname he had given the other troll when they had been younger and had gone as far to reprimand other trolls for using what Creek now called the unkind nickname. In return for this apology and the purple troll’s work to eradicate his nickname, the prince had conceded that sometimes Creek’s belief in the spiritual and magical things in life wasn’t always wrong, and he would even talk to the spiritual troll about such things every so often. 

Branch was glad to have Creek as a friend as now when he had a long day or when all his royal duties were just too much for him and he wanted a troll to complain to the spiritual troll was more than willing to listen and would usually make Branch laugh about it eventually. The grey troll in his own turn was always there for Creek when he had something serious which he wanted to talk about and would dispense any advice he thought would help the other troll. Though allowing the spiritual troll closer to him had been hard for Branch in the beginning but now he could feel that something inside him had changed, he looked forward to seeing Creek and every time they met his heart beat a little faster leaving Branch had always had some feelings for the purple troll they had always confused him but lately these feelings had grown stronger and it was certainly starting to look like they were the feelings which his father use to tell him about. Despite knowing that these feelings were stirring in him Branch said nothing about them to his friend and instead kept them to himself.

The purple troll had to admit that after he had made peace with Branch he had started to see entirely new sides to the grey prince. Seeing these before now hidden facets of the grey troll had changed everything for the spiritual troll and he wished with all of his heart that Branch was his soul mate but he felt that after the way he had behaved towards the other troll during their childhood years this would be highly unlikely so he instead settled for being the best friend he could be to the prince. Creek had tried to encourage Branch to talk to him about his parents but the pain he could see in the grey troll’s eyes when he had brought the subject up had been enough to make Creek decide that asking him about this was something he would never do again.


	3. chapter three

Chapter three:

Creek entered his mother’s room and smiled at her, the pale purple troll smiled back at him, she was always glad to see her handsome son, though she was concerned about him as lately he had seemed more worn down, but despite asking him if anything was wrong Creek denied that anything was the matter. Rain knew that because she was very unwell that her son didn’t want to burden her with his worries, but she still wished that Creek would confide in her in the way he used to. The purple troll walked over to his mother, Creek settled down on the side of the bed and his ill mother addressed him. “I’m so glad that you have become closer to Branch over the past two years, the prince could use a good friend and confident. I hope your stepfather and stepbrother are taking good care of you while I am unwell?”

The spiritual troll made sure not to show on his face how little his stepfather and brother cared for him to his sickly mother. “I’m fine mum, I’m glad that I have become friends with Branch too I wouldn’t have it any other way now.”

“Good I am so glad to hear that, are you keeping up with your meditation and yoga?”

“I am mum, I have also started to teach princess Poppy and she is learning very well.”

This information made Rain smile, as she knew that the pink troll would keep a close eye on her son as she could not at this time. “It’s wonderful that you have a pupil Creek.”  
“I have to say I am enjoying teaching the princess.”

“Well that makes it even better.” The pale purple troll said to her son, she then yawned, the spiritual troll helped his mother to settle down in the bed and she had soon fallen asleep.   
The purple troll looked down at his mother, he stroked over her hair, pressed a kiss to her forehead and then said to her softly. “Please get better soon mum.”

When Creek left his mother’s, bedroom Mist his stepfather was waiting for him, he thrust at the purple troll an ugly brown apron and then said with a sneer on his face. “Since you have so much free time to spend with the prince, you make up for wasting your time with him by cleaning the kitchen and sweeping out the main room of the pod. Oh, and you can do so without breakfast!” Once he had finished speaking Mist pointed at the kitchen commandingly. “Well get on with it unless you don’t want lunch either!”

Knowing better than to say anything to the grey blue troll Creek took the cause brown apron, he put it on and then went into the kitchen. As he entered the kitchen the purple troll held back the groan which wanted to escape him it was a complete mess, it looked like a whole army had come through the kitchen. It was in fact so untidy in the kitchen that it took Creek several hours to clean the kitchen, once this was done he then started on sweeping out the main room of pod. Just when he had finally finished doing this his stepbrother Leaf came into the pod, and he deliberately tracked lots of dirty foot prints through the main room of the pod as he made his way to his room. It was times like this that Creek just wanted to weep, he hated the way that slowly but surely his stepfather and brother had chipped away at his confidence and courage, they had turned him into a servant in his own home and were cruel to him constantly. There wasn’t anyone he felt that he could tell about the way his step family treated him, not even Branch, but he yearned to tell the prince the truth of his life instead of hiding what was happening to him. The purple troll sighed he wished that he was as confident as he used to be, quietly the purple troll cleaned the foot prints up, as Creek cleaned he was ravenously hungry but the purple troll dared not eat anything in the kitchen knowing that if he was discovered by either his stepbrother or father eating anything it would only make things worse for him.

Despite the fact that the spiritual troll had said nothing to either of them Creek had a funny feeling that both Poppy and Branch knew that something had changed negatively in his life after his mother had remarried a year ago and although both of them never asked what had happened, they both kept an eye on him and tried to get him out of the pod regularly. With the chores Mist had made him do around the pod now finished Creek went to his small room in the pod, the spiritual troll retrieved his yoga mat, he tucked it under one arm, the purple troll came out of his room to find his stepfather inspecting his work and when the grey blue troll noticed Creek with his yoga mat he sneered at him again. “Going out to practice your rubbish, are you?”

“I have a class to give today to princess Poppy.” Creek told him, knowing full well that by mentioning the princess’s name that Mist wouldn’t dare to stop him for giving his lesson.  
“I see, then go give your lesson, when you get back you can make us all lunch and then do all the laundry, do I make myself clear?”

“Yes sir.” The spiritual troll said quickly before he slipped out of the door making his way to the royal pod to give Poppy her lesson. When Creek set foot outside the pod he felt some of the weight he was always carrying slipping from his shoulders, he took a deep cleansing breaths of the fresh air outside the pod and he closed his eyes enjoying the feeling of the sun on his face. After a few moments Creek let out a deep breath, he opened his grey blue eyes and then the purple troll set off towards the royal pod to give his lesson to Poppy.

As soon as he arrived at the royal pod the spiritual troll knocked, the princess who had been waiting for her friend to arrive quickly opened the door, but as soon as the pink troll set eyes on her friend she knew something was wrong. Both her brother and herself had been worried about Creek for a long time now, they wanted to ask him what was wrong but they felt that it was unlikely that the purple troll would confide in them what was wrong until he felt ready to do so. Quickly Poppy pulled him into the royal pod, she sat Creek down, the princess handed him a plate of cupcakes and said commandingly. “Eat some of those, you look like you could use something to sweeten up your day. Oh which reminds me I have a pleasant surprise for you!”

Before the purple troll could ask the princess what was going on, she had hurried of, so while he waited for the pink troll to come back, Creek helped himself to a cupcake and waited for Poppy to return. When the pink troll did come back the spiritual troll almost choked on the cake he was eating, Branch was beside the princess, he was shirtless, the prince wore only a lose dark pair of trousers and was carrying a yoga mat. The grey troll gave his friend a small smile, before he addressed the other troll hopefully. “I hope you won’t mind if I join in too?”

Creek quickly swallowed the piece of cupcake he had been eating, he fought not to blush at the sight of Branch shirtless like this. The spiritual troll took a deep breath to calm himself before answering the question from the prince. “No of course I don’t mind.”

“Good I’m glad to hear you say that.”

So it was that together the three trolls practiced their yoga, Creek enjoyed teaching Branch and Poppy they were good pupils and Branch was more than happy to let the purple troll correct his positions whenever he needed to. Creek had to admit that being able to touch the skin of the prince in this intimate way gave him a great deal of pleasure and he knew that he would dream about touching Branch like this for days to come. The purple troll was therefore very disappointed when it was time for this first lesson with the prince to end. Creek had absolutely no idea that he was not the only one to be unhappy that it was time for their lesson to end, as Branch had also been enjoying feeling Creek touching him, it was like a guilty form of pleasure one which the prince wanted more of. “Will you be joining us again next week?” The purple troll asked Branch hoping whole heartedly that the answer to this question would be a positive one.

“I enjoyed today so, yes I would like to join in again as long as that is alright with you.”

“I’m glad that you enjoyed the lesson and of course I do not object to you joining us again.”

Slowly Branch smiled slightly at the spiritual troll. “Then I look forward to our next lesson.”

Creek walked made his way through the troll tree back to his family pod with a smile on his face, when he got closer to home the purple troll carefully took the smile off of his face, because he knew that if he appeared happy then Mist would take great delight in seeking out a way to make him miserable. Creek entered the pod, he took his yoga mat to his room, then made his way into the main room of the pod and to the kitchen where he made lunch for the whole family. As they ate in silence the purple troll wished he could find a way out of this situation for himself and his mother but Creek had never been able to think of anything that would be possible without bringing down his stepfather’s wrath on himself and his mother. There were times when Creek thought about telling Poppy and Branch what was happening as he was sure they would help him with his situation, but he didn’t want to make things difficult for them. When he slept at night the purple troll often found himself dreaming of being rescued from this life by Branch, although it was something which Creek felt would never happen it was a dream he still enjoyed. After lunch had been eaten, the spiritual troll cleaned up once more afterwards, when this was done Creek set to doing all of the laundry as he worked Mist and Leaf left the pod to go shopping. Once the spiritual troll was sure that he was alone outside the pod Creek started to sing about his hopes wishes and dreams.

“I wish that the darkness would go,  
I want to walk in the sunlight again.  
Now I know how you feel,  
I understand how you became grey.

I long to be anywhere but here,  
I wish I could tell you of my pain  
And let you hold me in your arms.

I want to be free once more,  
But I am only free in my dreams.  
I wish I could escape the darkness here  
But the shadows are too long to escape.

I long to be anywhere but here,  
I wish I could tell you of my pain  
And let you hold me in your arms.

I used to be so brash and brave,  
I used to be so confident nothing could harm me.  
Now I know that all I had was an illusion of truth  
My safety has been torn away.

I long to be anywhere but here,  
I wish I could tell you of my pain  
And let you hold me in your arms.

If I could have the chance to tell you the truth.  
I’d tell you I love you.  
If I could have the chance to escape from here  
Then I’d run strait to you…”

 

Creek let out a deep sigh, his longing for Branch had only grown as his stepfathers and brother’s cruelty had become more obvious towards him as it had put the grey troll into contrast with them. The prince was nothing like them, he was a kind gentle soul, Creek knew that Branch would always to protect the troll he loved and never treat that troll in the way he was being treated by those who should care for him. Slowly the purple troll looked up at the sky, he sent up a fervent prayer, that somehow, some way he would be presented with a way to both escape from his life as it was and to tell Branch how he really felt about him.


	4. Chapter four

Chapter four:

As his twenty fifth birthday had drawn closer Peppy and Rosiepuff had gone to see their grandson, about the ball, they found him settled reading quietly in his room and as the King and Queen entered his room Branch looked up at them. Instantly noticing their serious expressions, the prince had marked his place in the book, placed it to one side and then turned his full attention onto his grandparents. It was Peppy who addressed his grandson first out of the royal couple. “As you know your twenty fifth birthday is soon, we are glad to see that you have made friends with Creek and started to spend more time with Poppy and her friends as well…But we are still hoping that you will use the night of the ball to find a life partner.”

Branch closed his eyes for a few moments, the idea of finding a life partner at the ball filled him with fear, the thought of spending his life with anyone but…The eyes of the grey troll snapped open, he held back the urge to groan as realisation that he had been right about his growing feelings for Creek settled over him. Quickly the prince brought his attention back to his grandparents, he would deal with what he realised after he had spoken to Rosiepuff and Peppy. “I know that you both want me to find a life partner at the ball, I can only promise to look…I can’t say I will find a troll to spend my life with.”

Peppy went to say something to the prince but Rosiepuff knowing that her husband probably was going to say something which would doubtless make Branch even more nervous than he undoubtedly already was, so she quickly shot him a silencing look which caused the King to close his mouth quickly. The Queen went over to her grandson, she placed a hand onto his and then said to him with a warm smile on her face. “All your grandpa and I are asking is that you tried to find yourself a troll to share your life with and if you can’t find that troll at the ball then we will respect that fact Branch.”

“Thank you grandma.” The grey troll said happily to the Queen, as relief that he wasn’t going to be constantly badgered by his grandparents to find a life mate filled him. Before the King could think to say anything else to Branch Rosiepuff took his hand and gently but firmly guided Peppy out of the room, leaving their grandson alone with his thoughts.

The grey troll didn’t pick up his book again, instead he walked across his room and looked out of his window up at the full moon. “Oh dad now what do I do? True love…I think that’s what I’m feeling for Creek…I wish you were here so I could make sure, after all you were the one who told me you truly loved mum and what that felt like. I just know that since I’ve had a chance to get to know him my feelings towards Creek have only grown but I am sure he only sees me as a friend. I have the worst luck when it comes to love…How am I ever going to choose another troll over Creek?” As he himself asked this question Branch sat down by the window and started to sing quietly to himself.

“How did I fall in love?  
How couldn’t I see the signs?  
The way you make my heart beat faster.  
The way you light up my day.

True love my father used to say comes by surprise  
And that was true of you.  
Yes, that was true of you.

I live to see you smile.  
I love to hear you laugh.  
When you hurt all I want is to ease your pain.  
When your frightened I want to protect you.

True love my father used to say comes by surprise  
And that was true of you.  
Yes, that was true of you.

But I’m a troll you’ll never see.  
I’m a friend and that’s all I’ll ever be.  
My love is best kept silent,  
But deep in my heart I loved you from the start.

True love my father used to say comes by surprise  
And that was true of you.  
Yes, that was true of you…”

 

Branch let out a deep sigh, he stood up, then walked away from the window he settled down in bed for the night many conflicting thoughts and feelings going around in his head.

So, it was that the next day exactly six months before Branch’s twenty fifth birthday, that with their grandson’s permission that his grandmother and grandfather had announced that there was to be a grand ball, to celebrate this important occasion and for the prince to seek a life mate. The announcement of a great royal ball had of cause caused great excitement around the troll tree, and soon preparations for this wonderful event were well underway.

After hearing of the royal ball which was to be held for Branch’s birthday, a plan of how he could tell the grey troll of his feelings for him had come into the mind of the spiritual troll, after turning the idea over in his mind for a while Creek hadn’t been able to see any problems with his idea. He had gone to the princess for help with his idea first, when the spiritual troll found her the pink troll was helping prepare things for the ball. “Poppy can I borrow you for a little while?”

The princess looked up at him, smiled widely and then handed what she had been doing to one of the other trolls helping to organise the party before saying to her friend. “I was just about to finish here so of course I can help you Creek, is something the matter?”

“It’s private…” The purple troll said blushing slightly and looking around at the rest of the trolls in the area.

“Oh I see.” Poppy said looking around at the other trolls all around them with understanding.

Creek and Poppy walked away from the area and once he felt they were far enough from prying ears the spiritual troll addressed the princess. “I want to talk to the twins about my situation as well, so I hope you can wait to hear all I have to say until we have found them.”

The pink troll looked up at her friend, she felt very concerned it wasn’t like Creek to be so secretive and she couldn’t help but fear the worst but hope for the best. “It sounds very serious Creek.” 

“It is.” The spiritual troll confirmed. “Do you know where we can find the twins today?”

“As far as I am aware they should be in their pod.”

“Good that should make this a little easier.” 

Together Poppy and Creek walked the rest of the way to the twin’s pod in silence, the princess couldn’t help but wonder what was on her friend’s mind, it was clearly something very important for him to be seeking privacy in order to talk about it and this made the already concerned princess become even more worried. When they arrived at the pod the purple troll knocked on the door it was answered by Chenille, she smiled widely at the two trolls and gestured them inside. 

Once they were inside the pod Chenille turned to Poppy and Creek and then said to them. “Hello Creek and Poppy, what can we do for you both today?”

“Actually I’m the one who needs help from both of you.” Creek admitted drawing enquiring glances from the twins, the purple troll gestured at the chairs in the room before he said. “Can we sit?”  


“Oh! Of course!” Satin said quickly feeling slightly foolish for not thinking to offer the other two troll’s seats strait away.

Creek, Poppy, Satin and Chenille all sat down on the chairs in the main room, and then after a few moments he spoke to them all very seriously. “Before we begin I want all three of you to promise me you won’t say a word about any of this to any other troll.” The three female trolls looked at each other with concern but seeing the look of determination on the face of Creek they know that the spiritual troll wouldn’t say anything more to them until they all give him their promise. Chenille gave her promise first, this was closely followed by her sister, Poppy gave her promise to Creek last and when this final promise was given the purple troll let out a relived sigh because he knew that none of them would break their word to him. “I want to go to the ball, but I don’t want any troll to know it’s me.”

“Why?” Satin asked him with complete confusion.

“Because I want to dance with Branch at the ball…And tell him that I’m in love with him.” As he spoke this last part the normally confident voice of the purple troll had dropped into nothing more than a whisper and he blushed slightly as he confessed this. Though this was one of the reasons that Creek wanted to make sure none of the trolls would know it was him for the night, he also wanted to be sure that his stepbrother and father wouldn’t know that he was at the ball because Creek felt that it was more than likely that his stepfather would try to find a way to prevent him from attending the ball. The purple troll planned to deal with this fact by pretending to be sick for a few days before hand and hiding his disguise under his bed until they had left for the ball.

“WHAT!” All three of the female trolls screamed together, closely followed by Poppy saying. “When did this happen? And why didn’t you tell me?”

“You remember that night when we ran into Branch two years ago…” As his sentence petered out the princess gave him a nod and then Creek spoke once more. “Let’s just say it opened my eyes, I started trying to just be nicer to him and then slowly but surely I fell in love with your brother. That’s why none of the other troll’s can know it’s me…Though we are friends can you honestly see Branch taking my confession of love seriously in any way?” All three female trolls shook their heads at the same time and seeing this the spiritual troll spoke to them all again. “Exactly, that’s why I need a disguise for the night of the ball, a good one and I couldn’t think of any trolls more skilled in that area than the twins.” Satin and Chenille both blushed as Creek said this but at the same time they preened happy to hear another troll praise their work.

“Well we can start by dressing you formally for the night.” Chenille said thoughtfully as she ran her eyes over the purple troll and liking the sound of that idea Creek gave her an enthusiastic nod.

Then Satin spoke to the purple troll contemplatively. “If we dye your hair with a wash in and wash out dye that’s bound to help after all it’s far too distinctive as is.” The purple troll winced slightly he didn’t really want to dye his hair but Creek gave Satin a nod, while he mentally conceded that she did have a point as his two tone hair was far too distinctive to be left as it was if he didn’t want any of the trolls at the ball to know it was him for the night.

Then Poppy decided to add her own idea to those being voiced. “A mask…You are definitely going to need a mask.”

Creek smiled slowly, he had to admit a mask would be a brilliant idea, because then it really would be hard for any of the other trolls including his stepfather and brother to know who he was. The female trolls started to make suggestions for what kind of mask the spiritual troll should use but they all sounded like far too much, Creek couldn’t help but feel simple would be better and he found himself saying firmly to Poppy, Satin and Chenille. “I think a simple silver domino mask would be best…”

Nodding at him with understanding the twins pulled out paper, they started to draw and together over cupcakes the four friends planed for the ball. They talked together about colours for the clothes which Creek would ware, it was eventually decided would be a royal purple and after the colour was chosen Chenille and Satin spent a bit of time arguing over fabrics. One the twins were happy with the fabrics they had chosen the four friends then discussed the dye that would work best with the purple trolls colouring and settled on a shade of grey blue to match his eyes. Creek was very vocal over the mask, he wanted to make sure that it was a simple mask so as not to give too much away about him and the twins had agreed that simple would be best in this case.

Once the discussion of what he would where was over Creek turned his attention to the princess and said to her. “As for you Poppy I am hoping that you will be willing to teach me how to dance the waltz…I’ve never had to dance it before but I am sure I will need to know how to for the ball.”

“Of course, I will be more than happy to teach you Creek.” Poppy assured him with a large smile.

“Thank you for agreeing to help me my friend I think that practicing at my pod would be best, is that alright with you Poppy?”

The princess thought about this for a few moments before giving the spiritual troll a nod. “I think you are right practicing at your pod would be wise, after all we can’t practice in the royal pod Branch might catch us and that would ruin your plan.” Before Creek could get a word in Poppy was speaking again her voice bubbling with enthusiasm. “This is so exciting! I’ve always hoped that someday some troll would fall in love with my brother…I hadn’t expected it to be you but I’m so happy it is you Creek! I think you will make my brother a wonderful life partner!”

As much as the purple troll would have loved to be able to become Branch’s life mate Creek felt that there was no chance that the prince could ever see him as possible life mate, which pained him a lot more than the spiritual troll had ever thought that something could ever have. Regret for his passed actions rose up in Creek as it always did when he thought about what could have been between himself and the grey troll if he hadn’t acted so stupidly towards Branch and the purple troll took a few moments to battle it down before he said gently to Poppy. “I only intend to dance with your brother and tell him my feelings for him on the night of the ball…Never again, I’m hoping that telling Branch I love him with all my heart just this once will help me to push it to one side. I care for him to much as a friend to lose Branch by confessing that I feel anything more for him than friendship after the ball.”

Poppy could hear the sadness in the voice of her friend, she wished that there was some way in which she could comfort Creek and encourage him but the princess just like the purple troll had no idea if her brother had any romantic feelings for the spiritual troll. It was times like this that Poppy wished that Branch’s heart was not such a closed book, but she knew that due to being grey and that his passed romantic relationships had never worked out well for him meant that her brother kept his feelings close to himself. “Creek you love my brother with all of your heart yes?”

“Yes Poppy I do.” The purple troll said with absolute honesty to the princess.

“Then don’t be so quick to give up on the idea that it would be possible for my brother to love you as much as you do him.” Not sure what to say to this Creek simply settled on giving the princess a nod which she returned with a smile for the spiritual troll. After this discussion between Poppy and Creek the four friends started to talk about how many lessons the purple troll would need to learn to dance the waltz properly before the ball as well as the number of fittings that the purple troll would need for his outfit for the ball to be ready for that night. The twins, Poppy and Creek all eventually settled on one meeting a week on a Monday for the fittings and Wednesday for the dance lessons. The purple troll felt he could get away from his pod for these two days as he already gave his yoga lesson to Poppy on Wednesday, as for Monday this was the day Creek went to get food for the family anyway so just adding a little time hopefully wouldn’t be noticed by his stepbrother and stepfather.

Creek soon discovered that princess Poppy was a good and thorough dance teacher, after a few false starts the pink troll quickly had her friend dancing a basic waltz. Once Poppy was satisfied with this she began to teach him more complex forms of the waltz, these took Creek a little longer to learn from the princess but he did learn them. Over the same time the purple troll was going to see the twins for the fittings of his clothes for the ball, as the clothes came together Creek could see they were going to suite him well. He felt sure that with the mask on and his hair dyed grey blue none of the trolls at the ball would ever know he was the one under the disguise. When Creek came to this conclusion he felt some of her nerves about approaching Branch easing, at the same time though he also felt the first twinges of guilt stirring in him, Creek quickly stamped this out by reminding himself that there was no way that the prince would ever love him the way he loved Branch so this little deception on his part was necessary.


	5. chapter five

Chapter five:

Creek had been careful as the ball drew closer to make himself appear to be unwell enough that he wouldn’t be able to attend the ball as he would need to go to bed early that night but not so unwell that he couldn’t do his work around the pod. When at last the night of the royal ball had arrived, the purple troll helped his stepbrother and father to get ready for the ball and once they were dressed in their best Mist turned to Creek and addressed him. “It is a good thing you are ill really, if you turned up to the ball in those ragged yellow trousers of yours you’d only be laughed at by all the other trolls.”

Leaf had laughed cruelly at this point and then spoke to his father. “The prince would probably be insulted by Creeks mere presence at his ball anyway.”

“Yes he is rather ugly to look at after all.” Mist said in agreement to his son as they left the pod to go to the ball.

Once they were gone Creek took a deep breath, after a few moments he let it out, tonight the purple troll was determined not to let the words of his stepfather and brother get to him and prevent him from going to the ball. No matter what they said to him the spiritual troll was determined that he was going to attend the prince’s ball tonight. Creek checked his mother was asleep which he was glad to see she was, then when the spiritual troll was happy that Mist and Leaf would not be returning to the pod for the night he went to his bedroom and started to get ready for the ball himself. 

When Creek had finished getting ready he looked at himself in the mirror in his room and smiled to himself he looked very different dressed as he was in the well fitted purple suite and crisp white shirt the twins had made for him. The purple troll was surprised how much of a difference to his appearance having the grey blue hair made, Creek had also carefully styled his newly coloured hair so it stood up strait rather than bending as it usually did. The spiritual trolls carefully placed the domino mask to his face, it fitted there perfectly, he didn’t know how the twins had manged to make it so that the mask wouldn’t come off of his face but whatever they had done it was almost like magic. 

Happy with his appearance in his disguise for the ball Creek’s smile grew and for the first time in a long time the spiritual troll felt handsome, he also felt his confidence rising and he embraced both of those emotions wanting to hold onto these wonderful feelings for the night. Creek quietly made his way out of the pod determined not to disturb his sleeping mother and then have to explain where he was going and why he was dressed like this to her. Once he had made it outside the pod Creek let out a relived sigh, the purple troll then quickly made his way to the ball eager to see Branch, to dance with him and make his confession to the prince.

 

In the royal pod Branch was busy getting ready for tonight, he hadn’t worn something this formal for years now and it made him feel slightly uncomfortable to be dressed in this manor once more. The grey troll wore black well fitted full length trousers, a crisp white top with a v opening at his neck, over which was a silver waistcoat embroidered with black leaves and fastened with three silver leaf buttons. Over this was a well fitted black jacket, the jacket was embroidered in a fine silver leafy tendrils which matched that pattern on his wait coat it was sewn into his cuffs, as well as on the lapels and around the hem. Branch looked at himself in the mirror in his room, as he did so the grey troll felt like he looked absolutely ridiculous dressed like this. As soon as the prince thought like this he felt fear creeping in on him and Branch was sure that all of the trolls at the ball were going to take one look at him dressed like this and laugh at him. Quickly the grey troll took a deep breath he held it for a few moments, Branch then let it out slowly and closed his eyes for a few moments determined to get his fear back under control. The grey troll tried to replace the terror he was feeling with hope for the night ahead, slowly Branch felt the anxiety washing away to be replaced with a sense of calm.

Now he felt calmer the prince drew himself up to his full height, he looked into the mirror to make sure that none of his inner turmoil could be seen on his face and when Branch was sure that none of it could be seen the grey troll room left his room and made his way to the main room of the pod. When Branch came into the main room of the royal pod, as he entered the room his grandpa and grandma turned to face him, they both smiled at the sight of Branch dressed in the way he was and it was Rosiepuff who said to him. “Oh Branch you look so handsome, if they were here your father and mother would be so proud of you tonight. I am very sure that you are going to have every single troll chasing after you at the ball.”

“Thank you grandma, I’ll admit that it feels a little strange to be dressed in this instead of my normal white shirt, black jacket and long black trousers. I am not sure I shall have every single troll coming after me, but I am glad that you think I look handsome tonight and that you think mum and dad would have been proud of me. I hope that as one of the most beautiful trolls at the ball tonight you will save me a dance?” As he asked this Branch shot his grandmother in her wonderful aqua green ball gown with silver flowers embroidered on it a teasing look.

The Queen walked across the pod to Branch, she playfully swatted her grandson on the arm as he called her one of the most beautiful trolls, Rosiepuff smiled at her grandson and then said to him. “You flatterer, but of course I shall save you a dance.”

“Your grandma is right Branch, you look every inch the prince tonight.” Peppy said to his grandson seeking to reassure him, the King did this because despite the fact that the grey troll had done his best to push his concerns about his appearance tonight to one side, Peppy knowing Branch as well as he did could still hear and see that his grandson was still a little worried about the night ahead of him.

Before Branch could say anything in return to this Poppy entered the room, the smile that came onto the face of the prince at the sight of his sister was one of his rare truly happy ones. “Poppy you look beautiful.” Branch told the pink troll with sincerity. 

Tonight the princess had really gone all out she was dressed in a sky blue ball gown, it had a fitted bodice, with wide skirts, which had shimmering opalescent flowers sewn onto the skirts and around her neckline of the gown. There were even three matching flowers in the pink troll’s hair which had been worked up into a simple but beautiful bun for the night and around her neck as well as at her wrist were shimmering sky blue beads to match the gown.

Branch crossed the pod to stand before his sister, he bowed formally to the pink troll, he offered Poppy his arm and then the prince said to his sister with a one of his truly happy smiles on his face. “May I have the honour of escorting the most beautiful of all the trolls to the ball tonight?”

The princess blushed as her brother complimented her like this, Poppy knew that Branch meant every word of his compliment which made her feel extremely happy about how she looked tonight. The pink troll placed her arm through her brothers, the princess then smiled up at Branch and said with her eyes alight with joy and pride. “I’m very honoured to be escorted to the ball by the most handsome of trolls.”

Arm in arm the siblings left the pod for the ball, Peppy and Rosiepuff also arm in arm walked behind them and together the royal family made their way through the troll tree to the ball. The royal ball was being held in the large clearing in the middle of the village were all such large events where held by the tribe. When the four royals arrived at the ball they were greeted with polite bows and curtsies from the other trolls present at the ball, they returned these bows and curtsies with nods of greeting as they made their way across the dancefloor to a mushroom platform which was at one end of the clearing were the ball was being held. 

Once all four of the royal trolls were settled on the mushroom Peppy stepped to its edge, he raised his hand for quiet, when everything had fallen silent in the clearing, the King then addressed all of the troll’s present at the ball. “We have come together tonight so prince Branch can seek a life mate and in order to celebrate my grandson’s and heir’s twenty fifth birthday. Today by troll law prince Branch became a full adult, in six months times I shall retire my place as your King and my grandson shall take over from me, but for tonight we shall dance and we shall celebrate!”

The cheering these words from the King caused was immense, it took quite some time for this cheering to end, when it did so the trolls quickly cleared the dancefloor so that they could begin to dance and once the dancefloor was fully vacated Peppy gave the signal to the troll musicians to start playing for the night. When the music for the ball started, Branch left the mushroom with his grandma on his arm, they took to the floor for the first dance together, the two of them danced well together and a lot of the troll’s present at the ball were extremely surprised to see how well their prince danced. They were joined a few moments later by Peppy and Poppy, then slowly but surely other couples started to join the royals out on the dancefloor. As this dance drew to a close the grey troll escorted his grandmother off of the dancefloor, back up onto the mushroom and to the side of his grandfather, he bowed politely to his grandparents then moved away from them towards his sister.

When Branch reached Poppy side, he held a hand out to her and then said to the pink troll. “Would you dance with me sister?”

“Of course I will brother.” As she spoke the princess put her hand into that of the grey troll, she let her brother guide her off of the mushroom and out onto the dancefloor.

As the music of the second dance of the night started to play Poppy and Branch made their way around the dancefloor to the strains of a slow song, they were soon joined by lots of other troll couple’s eager to enjoy the night of the ball. When the music of this second dance came to an ended the two royal trolls left the dancefloor together, they went to one side of the dancefloor near where the mushroom was instead of returning to the top of it this time. When the trolls attending the ball noticed that the prince and princess were available to dance with it wasn’t long before Poppy had many trolls asking her to dance with them. The pink troll was soon stepping out onto the floor with the first of her partners for the night, as she did so Branch smiled sadly to himself, he wasn’t at all surprised to see his beautiful sister being asked by so many trolls to dance. As he watched his sister dancing the grey troll felt like fading into shadows and letting Poppy take all of the lime light for the night.

Just as this thought came into his head but before the grey troll could think about following his thought a male voice from next to him said. “Would you dance with me Prince Branch?”

The grey troll jumped with surprise, Branch turned to look at the troll standing beside him and his eyes widened at the sight of this handsome troll. His skin was a lovely shade of purple, he wore a white shirt, and a suite which rivalled his own, it was a deeper shade of purple than his skin it was embroidered at the cuffs and lapels with silver butterflies instead of silver leafy tendrils. His hair was the same shade of grey blue as his eyes, which Branch suddenly realised were framed by a simple silver domino mask which shimmered like starlight. The prince found himself trapped by those wonderful eyes, he felt like he had seen these eyes before but for the life of him Branch couldn’t place where from. The purple troll held his hand out to Branch, he smiled encouragingly at the grey troll and then said to softly to the grey troll. “Please dance with me prince Branch.”

Slowly Branch smiled back at the other troll, it was not one of the small smiles which Creek was used to seeing from the prince, this was a smile he had only ever known Poppy to talk of it was wide and truly happy. Seeing this smile for the first time made Creek fall just a little more in love with the prince than he already had been before now and it also made the spiritual troll feel glad that he had gone through with his plan for the ball tonight. The grey troll placed his hand into that of the purple troll, they went out onto the floor together as they did this the two trolls drew plenty of startled looks but neither of them paid the other trolls looking at them. As the waltz began to play the two male trolls began to dance together, their dance was a complicated beautiful waltz which they performed flawlessly. Their eyes never left each other as they danced, in fact the two male trolls were so involved in their dance that they hadn’t even noticed that the dancefloor had emptied of other couples leaving them as the only couple dancing. As Branch and Creek danced together every one of the troll’s present at the ball could see that Branch and this mysterious troll were clearly very attracted to each other.

As their dance finally drew to a close the prince held his arm out to the purple troll and then asked his companion politely. “Would you walk with me?”

“I’d be honoured Prince Branch.” The masked troll said as he placed his arm not through Branch’s, but very formally laid it along his and lay his hand on top of the prince’s hand.

Smiling with pleasure when his dance partner did this the grey troll escorted the other troll away from the ball and into the nearby forest where they could talk together in private. King Peppy and Queen Rosiepuff seeing this happening smiled at each other, not wanting this potential romantic relationship between their grandson and this mysterious troll to be interrupted they had gestured at the orchestra to continue playing, which they instantly did. This meant that just as the King and Queen had planned the other trolls continued to dance instead of trying to follow or wondering about the two trolls who had left the ball together.


	6. chapter six

Chapter six:

Once Branch was sure that he and his masked companion had walked far enough into the forest to be far away from prying eyes and ears for their conversation to be private, the grey troll brought their walk to a halt and then turned to the other troll before saying with clear curiosity. “Why did you ask me to dance?”

Creek met the teal gaze of his prince and answered the question truthfully. “I asked you to dance with me because it is something I have always wanted to do.” As he spoke the spiritual troll made time to look at the prince dressed in this very formal fashion, Branch looked amazingly handsome tonight and Creek found himself wishing that the grey troll would dress like this more often. Knowing he was alone with the prince right now made the purple troll feel excited and apprehensive all at once, Creek hoped that his disguise would be good enough that Branch wouldn’t be able to work out who he was before or after he confessed his feelings to the other troll.

“Oh I see, thank you…I didn’t think any troll would ever want to dance with me let alone a handsome troll such as yourself. Your mask is very unusual.”

The purple troll smiled at Branch, he reached up to touch the mask in a slightly nervous gesture and then said to his grey companion. “I’m glad you like it, I will admit that it was having the mask on which gave me enough bravery to ask you to dance with me. I hear that you are supposed to be seeking a troll to wed tonight.”

“I am.” The grey troll confirmed but before Creek could say anything to this he spoke again. “To be honest I don’t expect any of the trolls to be interested in me in a romantic way…They never have been before now…So why would that change tonight? They call me the gloomy prince but then you probably know that already.”

The spiritual troll felt his heart clench painfully as Branch said this to him, but he quickly pushed the feelings of guilt and pain aside, Creek gave the prince at his side a nod before saying to him. “Yes, I had heard that you had such a nickname, but I had also heard that a friend of yours was trying to get the other trolls to stop using it.”

“Creek…Yes he has been trying to make up for giving me the nickname in the first place by getting the other trolls to stop using it…And it has been much better lately. I know my grandparents want me to be happy and find a troll to love but…” The grey troll’s words trailed away and he let out a sad sigh.

“But what?” Creek asked desperately wanting to know what Branch had been about to say.

“I fell in love a few times…Let’s just say that it never worked out so well for me…It wouldn’t surprise me to find out that I had a soul mate who wouldn’t want me either…” The grey troll let out a derisive chuckle and then spoke to the other troll again while he gestured at himself. “I don’t blame them for not wanting me, who could I’m grey…No troll is ever really going to want me, they don’t see me.”

“I see you.” The purple troll said tenderly but honestly, as he placed a hand onto the arm of the prince in a comforting gesture.

The prince looked at the masked troll with surprise. “Really…You see me?”

“Yes…I see a kind gentle troll, one who wants to protect his family, friends and all the other trolls from all harm. I see a troll who is wise, strong, and handsome in body, heart and soul…I see you prince Branch.” Branch’s teal eyes had gone wide with shock, Creek slowly placed his other hand gently onto his cheek and stroked his fingers over it in a loving gesture. “I see you.” The purple troll assured the grey troll for the third time.

Slowly the beautiful smile which Creek had seen earlier appeared on the face of the prince again and before the spiritual troll could really register what was happening Branch was kissing him gently but firmly on the lips. Creek moved his hands up to his shoulders gripping them tightly, he started kissing Branch back and soon their lips were moving together in a beautiful dance. Slowly the prince pressed his body closer to Creek’s causing him to take a sudden sharp breath that ended with a hum of pleasure. As the grey troll’s strong arms wrapped around him, his hands came to rest flat against his back and instantly Creek felt safe in his hold and loved as he had never been loved before. For Branch holding this troll close to him felt like perfection, though part of him felt a little guilty for giving his first kiss away to a stranger rather than a troll he loved like Creek, the prince reminded himself that it would never have been possible to kiss the one he secretly loved like this. Kissing like this felt so perfect to both of the trolls that they wanted it to go on forever, but eventually the need for air forced them to break the kiss. Branch looked at the other troll in his arms, he blushed and then said. “Thank you for saying that…I’m sorry I didn’t mean to get carried away and kiss…”

The rest of his sentence went unsaid as Creek brought his lips to those of the grey troll, the spiritual troll hadn’t known how one kiss could make him crave as many more as he could get from the prince but crave them he did. Surprised by this sudden second kiss it took Branch a few moments to respond, but once he did the grey troll was more than happy to get lost in kissing the other troll once more. It was Creek who broke this second kiss, he looked into the teal eyes of the other troll and then said to him wistfully. “This night feels magical…I wish it didn’t have to end.”

“I wish that it didn’t have to either…You’ve come into my life so suddenly…But somehow you feel right in my arms. It feels like I’ve been waiting for you for a very long time…” Branch chuckled slightly, he shook himself, released the purple troll from his hold and moved back from the other troll. “Sorry, listen to me I sound like a fool.”

The purple troll suddenly felt cold without Branch close to him, he also hated the way the grey troll belittled himself, Creek was starting to really see the damage his torturing of the other troll had caused to Branch’s self-esteem for the first time and it made him feel so ashamed of himself, but at the same time it made the spiritual troll even more determined to make this one night perfect for both of them. The purple troll went after the prince, when Creek reached his side again the spiritual troll shook his head at the grey troll and took hold of one of his hands in his again. “No you don’t sound like a fool to me, you sound like a troll who has been waiting…Far too long for a troll to love you just as you are, to love you with all of their heart and soul.”

“You know I thought my grandma was crazy when she told me that all it took was one night to change your life…But now I think she might have been right. Are you going to tell me who you are under that mask?”

“I’m no one important.” Creek told him softly and he meant those words as he spoke them to the grey troll.

The prince looked into those masked ringed grey blue eyes and asked him as gently as he could. “Why don’t you want to tell me who you are?”

The purple troll blushed slightly, Creek lowered his eyes from the face of the prince and looked down at the grass before saying. “I don’t want to tell you because I don’t want you to be disappointed when you discover who I am.”

Branch reached out with his free hand, gently he lifted the chin of the purple troll and then said softly to the troll at his side. “Disappointed in what? That I found a troll who sees me, a troll that wants to kiss me and cares for me…A troll I think I could give my heart to…Why would I be disappointed by that troll?”

“But you don’t know who I am…I could be your worst enemy…A troll you hate. I could be a troll you only see as a friend…A troll who has no hope of winning your heart.” Creek said voicing some of his inner most fears and worries to the other troll.

“Do you know what I see in you?” Branch said to him gently still keeping hold of Creek’s chin as he spoke.

“No…What do you see?” The spiritual troll asked him half afraid of the answer he was going to receive from the prince.

“I see that you have a heart that wants to love, but that you are scared of getting hurt just like me…I see a troll who loves with all of their heart…In fact I’d go so far as to say you could love a troll truly and true love that’s a rare thing to see. I see a troll who needs to believe in himself and reach for what he wants, I know that you have the strength to do so, you already took that first step towards getting what you want by coming to see me tonight.” There was silence between them for a few moments and then Branch echoed Creek’s earlier words by saying honestly to the purple troll. “I see you.”

The eyes of the spiritual troll had gone very wide, his heart was hammering in his chest, he felt like there were a thousand butterflies fluttering around inside him, but eventually from somewhere he managed to find enough of his voice to say to the prince. “I love you…I really do, I have for the longest time.”

“Then let me choose you as my life partner tonight.” As the grey troll said to his mysterious partner he realised that he really did want to choose this troll, the prince felt that if he couldn’t have Creek as his life mate then this troll was one he would eventually be able to give his heart to.

Creek was convinced that his heart skipped a beat when Branch said those words to him, but he made himself shake his head at the prince. “No, you should choose another prince Branch, once you know who I am you wouldn’t want me…I have what I wanted…One night to tell you I loved you and to dance with you…The kisses were an unexpected but wonderful bonus. Now I should go and let you choose a troll who would make you far happier than I ever would.”

The purple troll tore himself out of Branch’s hold, he turned and ran away from him as quickly as he could. “WAIT!” The prince cried out with pain and concern clear in his voice as he did so, but the troll in the mask didn’t stop running so the prince set off after the one he had danced with.

Creek kept running heading back to the troll tree, the two trolls went running through the ball, all of the trolls dancing there watched them run passed with expressions of shock on their faces. The spiritual troll ran up into the troll tree, as he pushed through some leaves Creek felt his mask get caught and come away from his face but the spiritual troll knew he didn’t have time to stop and pick it up. So instead the purple troll quickly used his hair to get up onto the branch above the leaves and then blend in to the foliage there. Creek took a deep breath fear swamping him when he heard and then saw Branch arrive at this point in the tree, knowing he couldn’t hold his breath forever the spiritual troll slowly and quietly let out the breath he was holding hoping the whole time that Branch wouldn’t hear him as he did this. Bellow Creek’s hiding spot the prince quickly looked around him and as he did so Branch noticed the mask laying on the branch of the troll tree, the prince then looked around the area for the second time hoping for another clue as to the direction of the mysterious troll, but the grey troll quickly realised there was no other sign of the purple troll he had been chasing any were around him. 

Through the leaves the purple troll watched as the prince went over to were the mask lay, he knelt down before the mask, the grey troll then lifted up the mask delicately as if it were the most precious thing in the world to him and held it against his chest. “Not again…” Branch said in a broken voice, the grey troll closed his eyes as he felt a sharp stab of pain in his heart and he tried desperately to hold the pain back so that it wouldn’t make his grey state worse. Despite his best efforts to hold his pain in the prince felt a tear escape the corner of one of his eyes and run down his cheek but Branch didn’t wipe it away at this time. Creek watched on his heart clenching painfully at the sight of that single tear leaking out of one of the eyes of the prince and then ghosting slowly down over one cheek. “Not again…I can’t do this again, I can’t lose a troll I love…I have to find him…He didn’t even give me a chance to tell him that in time I feel that I could love him as he does me.”

Creek watched Branch reach up, he touched the tear on his cheek taking it onto his fingers, the tear seemed to glow in the light, the prince carefully held the mask out, he let the single tear drop onto the mask and it to glowed with a teal blue light. “Loving heart, to loving heart, only you who wore this mask this night will ware this again.” The purple troll covered his mouth with his hands so that the gasp he could feel wanting to escape him wouldn’t. Creek had heard stories that the royal family had some magic but he had never seen one of them use it before tonight.

Slowly the grey troll stood, still holding the mask he then slowly walked back away from where Creek was hiding and towards the ball. Once he was sure that Branch was gone, the purple troll came out of hiding, he stood on the branch and looked in the direction the prince had gone in his heart was hammering in his chest. Creek knew exactly how stubborn and determined the grey troll was, he knew that Branch would keep on searching until he found the one he was looking for. The spiritual troll sent up a fervent prayer that if the prince ever discovered the truth of who had been the one to capture his heart tonight he would not be disappointed by his discovery.

When Branch returned to the ball his grandparents and sister instantly came over to him, they all looked at him with concern when they noticed that the prince was alone. Branch fought back the sadness he felt at losing the one troll to see him, instead he focused on his determination to find him again. The prince looked from the delicate silver domino mask he held in his hand, to Rosiepuff and then addressed her. “You were right grandma tonight did change things. I found a troll who can see me for who I am and I want to find him again.”

“How are going to do that?” Rosiepuff asked her grandson softly.

The prince gave her a small smile and then extended the mask. “I have this, I have cast a simple spell on the mask so that only the troll who wore this mask can ware it again. I will only marry that troll no other.”

“This mysterious troll is the one you intend to have as your life partner?” King Peppy asked his grandson with both concern and seriousness in his voice.

“It is grandpa. If I cannot find him then I will not marry…” When the King went to interrupt Branch, he shook his head at the old troll and said as gently but as firmly as possible to him. “No grandpa I am already scared enough, if I cannot find this one troll, then I will never marry and I shall make that fact part of my acceptance speech when I take over as King from you.”

Slowly Peppy smiled it was good to see Branch so determined to find this one troll to have reached a heart which had been in pain for far too long as far as the King was concerned. “Then I hope you find him and soon grandson. When will you start your search for him?”

“Tomorrow.” Branch said his hands curling protectively around the mask, the rest of his family smiled at him glad to see that he was eager to start on his search and clearly determined to find this masked troll. Once by one Branch’s family then left his side they knew that after all which had happened to him tonight that the grey troll would want some time to himself now. Slowly the prince looked up, he watched with a small smile on his face as Poppy was wept out onto the floor by another suiter. At this point Branch quietly slipped away from the ball, he made his way to the royal pod, when he reached his room the prince carefully placed the mask down on his bedside table, shed his jacket, Branch sat down on the side of the bed, looked at the mask and smiled slightly as he said. “I am going to find you again.”


	7. Chapter seven

Chapter seven:  
As soon as Creek was sure that Branch had finally left the area he came out from where he had been hiding, the purple troll gazed back in the direction prince had left, part of him really wanted to go after Branch and tell him the truth. Somehow Creek managed to make himself turn away, he dashed back to his pod, the spiritual troll let himself in quietly, he crept through the pod terrified that he would wake his mother as he made his way to his room. Once Creek was safely inside his room, with the door closed behind him, the purple troll let out a sigh of relief that it appeared he hadn’t woken Rain. The spiritual troll then quickly undressed, he placed his clothes back into the box the twins had given them to him in and pushed it under the bed with all the other boxes which were there, the spiritual troll knew the box containing his costume wouldn’t look at all out of place. Creek swiftly pulled on his normal tattered and patched yellow trousers, then quietly made his way to the bathroom, where the purple troll spent some time getting the dye back out of his hair. When there was at last no dye left in his hair the spiritual troll then spent some time making sure that there was nothing anywhere in the pod to hint at the fact he had been the troll in the mask to Mist and Leaf. Once Creek was sure that everything looked perfectly normal in the pod, he went back to his room, got into bed, then the purple troll pulled the covers up and willed himself to go to sleep.

When sleep did find the spiritual troll, it was unsurprising that he dreamt of dancing with the prince, of kissing him again, but in his dream this time Creek didn’t run away from the grey troll as he had tonight, instead he let Branch unmask him. As the prince realised who he was the purple troll got to see that wonderful smile again, the prince kissed him, held him close and said to him softly. “I had hoped it would be you, I love you Creek.” Once he had spoken these words the prince had pulled back from the embrace and kissed him for a second time after unmasking him. When the morning after the ball came Creek was very reluctant to wake up, he wanted to go back to that wonderful dream, but the spiritual troll knew that he needed to get up to do his chores and pretend that he was still quiet sick or his stepfather and brother would suspect something was amiss which Creek knew would not end well for him. Over this first day after the ball the spiritual troll was extremely glad to see that Leaf and Mist did not seem to have realised that he was the troll in the mask and this eased some of the weight of the concern which had been on his shoulders off of them.

So, for the next few days the purple troll pretended to be ill but recovering, as he showed signs of recovery Mist made sure to start making him work harder than he had been while the spiritual troll had been unwell. One day five days after the ball as Creek was dusting the pod, when he overheard Mist and Leaf talking about the ball, this was something they had not done until now, Creek had no doubt that they were only doing this now because he was here to torment with the fact they had attended the ball while he had been stuck at home in the pod sick. “I can’t believe how grand the royal ball was.” Mist said to his son with a touch of awe to his voice.

Leaf gave his father a smile before saying to him. “It was amazing and I have to say the prince was even looking splendidly regal for once.”

“Indeed he was, it was a shame that his attention was drawn away from all of the other trolls at the ball by that one troll in the mask. I was hoping that prince Branch might focus on a troll more fitting to his standing such as you my son.”

“Well who knows father if prince Branch cannot find this masked troll of his then maybe I can get him to focus on me as a potential partner.”

As Leaf said these words Creek wanted to scream at them, but he used his years of spiritual experience to calm himself and asked them with contrived interest. “A masked troll? How unusual?”

Mist turned to look at him as the purple troll as he continued to dust, the grey blue troll said in a scathing tone. “It was, I can’t understand why a royal troll such as prince Branch would have let such a common troll like him turn his head like that, it would be like prince Branch falling in love with a troll like you! Impossible and totally laughable!”

“But the prince is looking for this troll?” Creek asked trying to sound a little confused and a little intrigued by this troll and the prince’s reaction to it himself.

His stepfather made a dismissive hand motion as he spoke to the purple troll again. “Oh yes prince Branch is looking for him all around the troll tree, but I dare say that when the novelty of such a troll wares off then prince Branch will come to see the folly of what he is doing and then turn his attentions to a much better troll such as Leaf.”

Those words made Creek’s heart clench painfully, he hoped with all of his might that when Branch couldn’t find the masked troll then he wouldn’t choose a troll like his stepbrother to be his life partner. On the surface, the purple troll made sure to appear as though what his stepfather was saying made sense to him, he just continued to dust and once Creek was finished dusting the spiritual troll then addressed mist. “I’ve finished dusting, if you will excuse me I need to go and give princess Poppy her yoga lesson.”

“Yes, yes go already.” Mist said dismissively.

Creek made sure not to run to his room, instead he walked calmly to his room the purple troll gathered up his yoga mat, he then slowly left the pod and once the spiritual troll was out of the pod he allowed himself to feel glad that his stepfather and stepbrother had no idea he had been the troll in the mask. Creek then made his way to the royal pod, when he arrived at the pod, the purple troll made sure as he always did to knock politely. When Poppy answered the door to his knocking the pink troll quickly gestured him inside, the purple troll came into the pod, he looked around and then asked the princess curiously. “Is Branch not joining us today?”

The pink troll shook her head, she slanted the purple troll a look which spoke of what she thought of this question and then said to him. “No, I’m afraid my brother will not be joining us today, as he is looking for his mysterious partner from the ball. My brother said to give you his apologies.”

“From what my stepbrother and stepfather had said about what happened on the night of the ball that is understandable.” Creek said to her pleased when his voice came out normally and not shaking or squeaking as he had been sure it should have been.

Knowing that her grandparents were still present and that she couldn’t break her word to Creek Poppy gave him a meaningful look as she said to him. “I hope that my brother finds the troll he met at the ball as he seems to have touched the heart of my brother.”

The purple troll swallowed hard as Poppy said this, he felt the guilt of hiding who he was from Branch starting to stir again and Creek fought hard to bring these feelings back under control. His grey blue eyes met the pink eyes of the princess, she was giving him a long hard stair and he knew what Poppy was trying to convey to him with the looks she was giving him. The spiritual troll gave her a sad look in return, trying to show the princess that he wished things could be different but that they couldn’t be.

Poppy let out a sigh of her own, she did understand why Creek was so nervous about the situation he was in but the princess hoped that somehow, someway these two souls who deserved each other could find each other. Deciding to say no more on the subject of her brother’s search for Creek Poppy rolled out her yoga mat, side by side she and Creek made their way through their yoga together. They were so absorbed in what they were doing that the two trolls didn’t notice the King and Queen leave the pod and Branch enter it. The grey troll didn’t want to disturb them, he made some tea for when they were finished, he also placed onto the tray some biscuits, with this done Branch returned to the main room of the pod, before he then sat on the floor cross legged and waited for Poppy and Creek to finish their yoga.

It was the smell of the tea which caused both trolls to stop what they were doing, they both realised that Branch was sitting on the floor watching them, he had a tray also settled on the floor with him, sitting on the tray were three steaming hot cups of tea and some biscuits as well. “Tea and biscuits, you two?” Branch asked them both politely with a slight smile quirking up the corners of his mouth.

“That sounds lovely.” Creek admitted, he sat down also cross legged on the floor and a few moments later Poppy joined him.

“One sugar cube and a little milk for my sister.” Branch said as he placed a sugar cube in the tea and then mixed in the milk.

Once this was done the princess smiled at him. “Thank you.” As she said this to her brother the pink troll took the cup, she sipped from it, then put the cup back onto the tray and helped herself to a biscuit.

“And for you Creek?” The prince asked him politely.

“Just two cubes of sugar please.”

With a nod Branch placed the two cubes of sugar into another cup of tea, which Creek picked up and sipped some of the tea. The prince added one cube of sugar to his tea then some milk, he took a biscuit and ate that as he let his tea cool a little before he drank it. The three trolls sat in a companionable silence sipping tea together and eating biscuits, once this was finished they all placed their cups onto the tray, they all stood up now they had finished, but it was Poppy who lifted up the tray and she said to the other two trolls. “Let me deal with this brother.”

“Thank you.”

“No brother thank you, for doing this for us.”

“Your sister is right, it was kind of you to think of making us tea and getting us biscuits.”

Branch smiled at Creek, the praise of the purple troll always made him feel so warm inside so he bathed in this feeling for a few moments before he said to him. “Its what friends are for…Creek…I know something hasn’t been right with you for a while…I’ve tried not to pry but I am your friend, I want you to know I’m worried about you Creek and I hope that when you’re ready you’ll tell me what’s wrong.”

As the prince spoke to him so kindly and with such concern Creek could feel the tears gathering in his eyes, seeing this Branch moved hesitantly towards the spiritual troll, he wanted to hug Creek but as he hadn’t hugged any toll’s outside of his family for a long time Branch was a little nervous about doing this. Carefully the prince placed his arms around the purple troll and then slowly the grey troll brought the purple troll close to him in a gentle but firm hug. The spiritual troll knew that Branch hugging him like this was a huge thing for Branch to do, as Creek brought his arms up they were shaking, he placed them around the prince returning his hug. After a few moments he felt his whole body shake as the grey troll held him in his comforting embrace, Creek hid his face in Branch’s shoulder, then the dam inside the purple troll broke and he wept loudly. The prince stroked one of his hands over the back of the other troll in a comforting gesture and while he did so Branch murmured soothingly to Creek. “I have you, it’s alright…Just let it all go Creek…”

Poppy came back into the room, she didn’t say anything the princess just stood in the doorway to the pod’s kitchen and watched them quietly. Branch swept Creek up into his arms, the purple troll didn’t even seem to notice as he did this, the prince carried him across the room, he settled on the sofa and cradled the other troll close to him. Slowly but surely Creek stopped crying, the purple troll gradually lifted his head from the shoulder of the prince and looked at him. “Thank you I needed that…My mother has been very ill but you probably heard that.” Branch gave him a nod, their eyes met, as this happened Creek felt completely safe and he knew that at last he could tell another troll what had been happening to him. Slowly but surely everything trickled out of Creek, there were times he had to stop because he would start to cry again, but Branch never let him go, he was an unwavering support to him as the spiritual troll told him everything.

When the purple troll had finally run out of words Branch was furious at Mist and Leaf but at the moment his first concern was the one he secretly loved, so for now the prince pushed his anger to one side to focus on Creek. Branch quickly hugged the other troll close to him once more and then said to the spiritual troll very gently. “Oh Creek, I wish you’d said something sooner…But I can understand why you didn’t. I want you to let me deal with this for you alright?” The purple troll felt an overwhelming surge of gratefulness come over him as Branch said this to him, Creek couldn’t find any words, so instead he rested his head back against the shoulder of the prince once more and nodded his head against the shoulder of the prince.

Branch stood up taking Creek with him, as he walked across the room Poppy came with him, the grey troll carried the purple troll from the main room into his bedroom, the pink troll quickly pulled the covers of his bed down, Branch gave her a grateful smile, he then put Creek into his bed covered him over, the prince stroked over the hair of the other troll and said to the spiritual troll gently. “Rest now everything is going to be fine.”

Creek believed those words as soon as the prince spoke them, it felt so calming to have the grey troll stroking his hair, he also felt very tired after letting out everything he had been holding in and the purple troll was soon fast asleep. Once Branch was sure that Creek was completely asleep the grey troll stopped stroking his hair, the prince then turned to his sister and said to her in a quiet voice. “Would you make sure Creek has water ready to drink when he wakes up he will need it and would you mind sitting with him while I am gone sister?”

“Of course I will take care of Creek brother, you go with grandpa and do what you need to.”

“Thank you sister, I’m just glad that Creek had no idea that grandpa and grandma heard him.” As he spoke Branch looked back down at the purple troll in his bed and for the first time Poppy realised that her brother cared a lot for Creek.

The prince turned he left his bedroom, when Branch entered the main room of the pod, he quickly walked over to his grandfather, the King looked as furious as the grey troll felt and the two trolls didn’t even need to say anything to each other, as they already knew what they were going to do. The King summoned some of the royal guards to their pod, once they had arrived at the royal pod Branch and Peppy with the guards left their home heading for Creeks home. As they walked through the troll tree the two royal trolls both made themselves as calm as possible, so they would be ready to deal with Leaf and Mist in a composed manor when they arrived. So it was, that by the time they had come to Creeks home you would never know the two royal trolls were in fact very angry under their tranquil facades. Peppy was the one out of the two royal trolls to knock on the door of the pod it flew open with Mist yelling his face contorted in furry as he did so. “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN YOU LAZY, GOOD FOR NOTHING TROLL?!”

As the grey blue troll realised who he had just shouted at his mouth opened wide with shock, King Peppy looked at him for a long moment before saying to him tranquilly. “We would like to come in.” As soon as the King said this to him Mist quickly stepped back so that Peppy and Branch, with the royal guards could enter the pod which they did.

Leaf had entered the room drawn by his father’s yelling, the green troll was looking forward to seeing his father degrade the far to handsome Creek once again, when Leaf noticed that royal guards were in the room as well as the King and the prince fear filled him and he froze in place. 

The King turned towards the grey blue troll, he asked him in very formal and cool tones. “Which room is Creeks?”

Mist pointed towards the room and then asked the King as politely as possible. “What is this all about your majesty?”

Peppy held his hand up towards Mist when he asked this question and instead of answering the question he spoke to his grandson. “Would you go and look please Branch?” 

With a nod Branch left his grandpa’s side, he made his way into the small room, looked around it as he noticed how little was in this small room the grey troll felt his anger grow, he clamped down on it ruthlessly and returned to the main room where he addressed King Peppy. “It is as we were told.”

Peppy gave him a nod then addressed Mist again. “Your son and yourself have been found to be mistreating your stepson, you are to leave this pod now, you will both be escorted by the guards from here to prison. I shall deal with you both when I see fit.”

The two trolls both let out cries of denial, the King glared at them they went quiet as they noticed this look, Peppy then gestured the guards towards them. When the royal guards had quickly hustled the two struggling trolls away Branch and Peppy looked to each other with concern as they heard Creeks mother Rain calling out weakly but worriedly from her bedroom. “Creek! Creek!”

They entered her room together and as soon as the pale purple troll noticed them, tears filled her eyes, she looked to Peppy and asked the King with concern clear in her voice. “What has happened?”

The old troll turned to his grandson and said softly but firmly. “I’ll talk to Rain, Branch would you get one of the healers to come to see Rain and then see to brining Creek home when he is ready?”

“Of course grandpa.” Branch left the room, he shut the door behind him quietly and then left the pod to get the healer for Rain and then return to Creek. On the way back to the royal pod Branch stopped at the healers pod, he told the healers of his grandpa’s request and one of them instantly set off for Creek's home to see Rain.

When the prince came into the royal pod, the purple troll was sitting on the sofa in the main room, he looked a lot better than he had earlier, seeing this made Branch feel extremely happy. Creek had turned to look straight at the grey troll when he had entered the pod, as their eyes met the prince could see that the purple troll’s grey blue eyes held in them a mixture fear and hope. “Everything is fine Creek, they are currently sitting in prison.” Branch assured him with a small smile for the other troll.

As soon as the grey troll said this Creek let out a sigh of relief, he felt his whole body relaxing and then addressed the prince with relief evident in his voice as he spoke. “Thank you…Does my mother know about what had been happening to me?”

“My grandpa is talking to her at the moment, I am sure he will find the best way to tell Rain what has been happening without worrying her too much, though I think your mother was already worried about you. I’ve sent a healer to your pod at my grandpa’s request, my grandpa has also asked me to walk you home, but then I had been planning to do that anyway.”

“I’d be glad of your company on my walk home. Thank you for your help Branch.”

“As I said earlier friends help each other and I am glad that you trusted me enough to let me help you with this.”

Together the spiritual troll and the prince went back to his home pod, when they came into the main room of the pod, the two male trolls were met with sight of King Peppy settled in an arm chair, Rain was sitting on the sofa looking much better than she had before, the healer Branch had sent to see the pale purple troll was just packing up his bag, once he had finished packing up the healer then said to Rain. “Now make sure not to overdo things, take the medication for the next two weeks and I shall come and see you at the end of that to see how you are doing.”

“Thank you, healer.” She said to him, then noticing Creek standing in the door way with the prince Rain opened her arms up to him, the spiritual troll quickly crossed the room, he sat on the sofa and hugged his mother tightly. “Oh, my poor son…” Rain said softly hugging him close, she gave Branch a grateful smile over Creeks shoulder which he returned. It was at this point that quietly the prince and the King left the pod, they both felt that they should allow Creek and Rain this time alone. As the prince and King walked back to the royal pod Peppy told Branch that the healer had discovered that Rain was going to be just fine and that it had been discovered that her husband had been giving the light purple troll the wrong medication to keep her unwell. Branch knew that this was also against troll law, it made the grey troll feel even more anger towards Creek’s stepfather and brother, Branch calmed himself with the knowledge that as King, his grandpa would make sure that those who were responsible for everything that had happened to Creek and Rain would be punished properly.


	8. Chapter eight

Chapter eight:

Over the next few days and weeks the prince had been glad to watch both Rain growing better and Creek once more became happier and confident in himself, Branch had to admit that it felt absolutely wonderful to him to see the other troll becoming more like his old self again. As for Mist and Leaf they had been punished for their actions by King Peppy, who had sentenced them both to work in the fields for the next year as punishment for their actions. Aware that these two trolls might try to harm the purple troll in some sort of revenge for telling others what had been happening to him, the King had placed a life time spell of protection onto Creek and his mother which would make sure that neither Leaf, Mist or any troll they might ask to could hurt the spiritual troll or Rain in any way for the rest of their lives.

At the same time as all of this was going on Branch day after day spent time looking for the troll in the mask, he tried the mask on troll after troll but the spell on the mask would not allow it to stay on any of them, slowly but surely the days became weeks and then when a month had passed the grey troll began to feel that he was never going to find the troll from the ball again. It appeared to Branch that all he would have was that one special night, the prince cursed his bad luck when it came to love but at the same time he did his best to make sure that loosing this troll would not make his grey condition any worse than it was. The prince knew that his grandparents and his sister were all worried about him, Branch did his best to assure them that he would be alright eventually and that it was not making him any deeper shade of grey than he already was. The reason he sought to assure them of this was because the healers had told him he had to watch for this years ago as it meant his condition was getting worse. 

Creek had watched the prince as he had searched the troll tree for the troll from the ball, he’d seen his hope fading as troll after troll failed to fit the mask and this sight tore at him, but the spiritual troll was just to terrified to admit to the other troll that he had been the one in the mask to do anything about the pain the other troll was clearly feeling. Creek peered around the trunk of the troll tree at the prince, he was sitting on the branch of the troll tree in front of him looking down at the silver mask in his hands. As he looked at the clearly depressed Branch sitting on the branch the purple troll started to sing quietly to himself not wanting any of the other trolls to over hear him as he did so.

“I never meant for it to be like this,  
I never thought I’d cause you such pain.  
I never meant to hurt you,  
But I hurt you just the same.

But if you knew the truth would you forgive me?  
If you knew the truth would you love me?  
My love I wish I knew the secrets of your heart.

I see your hope is dying every day,  
And I die a little at the sight.  
I see your pain growing every day,  
And I feel the pain with you.

But if you knew the truth would you forgive me?  
If you knew the truth would you love me?  
My love I wish I knew the secrets of your heart.

I never knew you could care like this,  
I never thought a troll could feel so deeply.  
I never dreamt that you would love so truly  
But love truly you do.

But if you knew the truth would you forgive me?  
If you knew the truth would you love me?  
My love I wish I knew the secrets of your heart.

You have such a strong heart,  
I wonder why I never noticed it before,  
And I feel like a fool for never seeing you before.  
Now though I see, I see only you.

But if you knew the truth would you forgive me?  
If you knew the truth would you love me…?”

Totally unaware of the other troll singing the grey troll sat on one of the branches of the troll tree looking down at the silver mask sitting in his hands, he let out a deep sigh, there were not that many trolls he could try the mask on now and to be honest Branch was considering giving up the search now. Those trolls which were left seemed to have no interest in the mask or were highly unlikely to be the one behind the mask in the view of the prince. Branch classed Creek to be one of those trolls who was highly unlikely to be the one behind the mask after all they were just friends nothing more nothing less, despite his wishes to the contrary. The grey troll wasn’t about to jeopardise the friendship he now had with the purple troll by revealing how he felt to the other troll only to be rejected. Being rejected by the one the grey troll loved with all of his heart was a thought which was too painful to contemplate for Branch and so even though he was very tempted to try to see if the mask fitted Creek he decided not to.

“Hey Branch.” Said the voice of the very troll who had been on his thoughts.

The prince looked up from the mask to Creek, who sat down on the branch beside him, the purple troll turned in his direction, he looked down at the mask sitting in Branch’s hands, gestured to it and then said to the prince. “You’re still looking then?” As Branch shook his head sadly, as he did this the spiritual troll felt his heart clench painfully, seeing the one he loved looking as depressed as he did made Creek want to try and make him feel better. “Well you have spent a month searching, there can’t be that many trolls left to try the mask on.”

“No there aren’t that many trolls left now…But those who are left are those trolls who are least likely to have been him, I’ve done my best but…I think it’s best I gave up, I’ve never had much luck when it came to love…Besides which I only met him that once and although he said he sees me for who I am, our meeting obviously meant more to me than it did him…I must have come off as being so desperate.” As the prince spoke he practically radiated sadness and pain.

“What will you do with the mask?” Even as he asked this question, Creek found himself wanting to reach out, take the mask from the hands of the prince and place it onto his face in the hope that he would get to see the smile he’d seen at the ball one more time.

The grey troll looked up from the mask, he stared into the distance letting himself think about the answer to this question for a while. Branch wasn’t quite sure were the idea had come from but before he could really try to reason it the prince voiced his idea to his friend. “I think I shall ware it from here on in. He was the only one to ever say he could see me for who I am despite my grey colour, so it makes sense that now no troll will ever see me properly again.” Those words made Creek wanted to scream in horror, he felt terribly guilty, seeing Branch like this was pure torture he wanted to say something or do something to help the miserable prince but the purple troll knew that unless he revealed the truth there wasn’t anything he could do for him. 

The grey troll took a deep breath, he turned in Creek’s direction, lifted the mask up wards towards his face but just before he could place it to his face the purple troll caught his hands and pulled them back down firmly. “Are you sure you don’t want to try the mask on those few trolls remaining?”  


“I don’t see as there is much point to it, as I told you I left those trolls until last because I felt that they were the least likely to see me as anything other than the gloomy prince.” Branch confessed with a sad shrug.

“DON’T CALL YOURSELF THAT!” Creek yelled angrily at the grey troll causing him to lean back slightly away from the spiritual troll, Creek’s blushed brightly, he took a deep breath and then spoke to the prince again but more normal tone of voice this time. “I’m sorry…I hate hearing you call yourself by the nickname I gave you…It makes me feel horrible so please don’t call yourself that again.”

Branch gently moved the mask into his right hand, he reached out with his left and placed it onto the right shoulder of the purple troll seeking to reassure him. “I won’t call myself by that name again I promise Creek…I didn’t realise it upset you that much.”

“It does, so I am glad to hear that you won’t call yourself by that name again.” As Creek spoke he felt relief filling him as the grey troll said this because the spiritual troll knew that Branch would keep his word to him and wouldn’t call himself the gloomy prince again. The prince removed his hand from Creek’s shoulder, he took the mask in both hands again, the purple troll swallowed hard, as much as he feared the prince’s reaction to finding out the truth Creek just couldn’t let Branch do this to himself and said softly. “You haven’t asked me to try the mask on.”

Startled by these softly said words the grey troll looked at him with surprise, silence stretched between the two trolls and eventually Branch spoke. “I…Your right I haven’t…Would you try the mask on for me Creek please?” The spiritual troll gave the grey troll a nod, seeing this Branch carefully placed the silver mask onto the face of the purple troll, it fitted there with ease, the mask glowed for a moment with blue magic and in that moment the prince knew that this was the one he had danced with at the ball. “Why did you hide from me like this Creek?” The grey troll asked him softly his voice tinged with sadness as he spoke.

Creek looked down at the branch they were sitting on, he was not able to meet the gaze of the prince, despite his fears the purple troll decided that the truth was best in this situation, he could feel the fear burning through him, Creek had never been this frightened in his life before, but then he had never put his heart on the line like this before. Branch gently took both of Creek’s hands into his, he then started to stroke soothing circles over the back of his hands. The spiritual troll knew the prince only sought to comfort him but it just made Creek feel even more like that if the grey troll hated him for what he had done then his world was going to end. “I…I hid because I didn’t think you would want me…I mean I made your life miserable for years! You’d already lost so much and I just poured salt onto the wound! Then after that night I heard you sing I started to see that there was so much I didn’t know about you and I wanted to be your friend. Then when I became your friend I started to see you, not the prince of the troll tree but just you Branch and I…I fell in love with you…I thought if I told you about my feeling for you then they would go away but they didn’t instead they just became stronger. I love you Branch I truly do.”

The grey troll’s fingers stilled in their motions over the back of the purple troll’s hands, gently the prince let go of Creek’s left hand, he placed the fingers of his right hand under his chin and slowly lifted spiritual troll’s face up. As their gazes met the purple troll wasn’t expecting to see Branch looking at him with such gentle eyes and when he smiled slowly Creek felt some of the fear oozing out of him. “Oh Creek your such an idiot.” Before the spiritual troll could ask him anything about this statement, Branch took the mask from his face with his left hand and then captured the other troll’s lips with his own.

As the purple troll started to kiss him back something suddenly went through Branch it was like thousands of feathers brushing over his skin. He pulled back from Creek, winced, closed his eyes and made a whine of pain as the feathery feeling became a burning sensation. “Branch are you alight?” The purple troll asked the fear and concern he felt for the prince was palpable in his voice.

The grey troll shook his head, he reached up with his right hand to touch his chest over his heart were the pain was centred. “I feel ugh…Strange…Like something is trying to…Un…”

Fear spiked in Creek, he quickly looked the grey troll over, but he could see nothing obviously wrong with him, then his eyes were drawn to the mask in Branch’s hands which was glowing blue, it was then that the spiritual troll noticed the mask was being held by fingers which were now teal blue at the tips and suddenly Creek realised what was happening to Branch. The purple troll turned wide eyes onto the prince who still had his eyes closed, his face was screwed up in an expression of terrible pain. Creek reacted on pure instinct, he pulled Branch’s hand away from over his heart, the spiritual troll placed his left hand there instead fingers spread wide and spoke to the prince commandingly. “Branch open your eyes and look at me!” Slowly the grey troll did so and Creek held his teal gaze with his own grey blue one and then he opened his heart completely to the prince. “I see you my true love.” After he spoke these words the purple troll placed his right hand to the back of the head of the prince and he brought his lips to those of Branch kissing him.

Branch took a deep breath as Creek made this confession then he kissed him, and the prince kissed him back letting all the love he felt for the other troll flow through him. As the right arm of Branch went around Creek’s waist teal light raced up the grey troll’s skin, when it hit his hair the light turned royal blue, the hair of the prince went upwards becoming higher and took on a new shape. As the changes to the prince finally finished Branch wavered slightly, Creek drew his lips away from those of the prince, he then carefully took his hand away from the other troll’s chest and slipped his arm around his waist to steady the one he loved and slowly the now blue troll stopped swaying, he smiled at the one he loved with a full wide smile. “Thank you for seeing me and loving me Creek. I love you too I truly do…I thought that if I couldn’t be with you then at least I would be able to eventually give my heart to the troll in the mask, so to discover that he is you is wonderful.”

Creek was staring at the prince with wide eyes and eventually asked in complete shock. “You love me? You truly love me?”

“Yes Creek I truly do.” Branch assured him, he pulled the purple troll closer to him and Creek allowed himself to do something he had always wanted to do and nuzzled into the chest of the prince. The blue troll looked down at the troll nestled against him, he smiled softly at Creek, then carefully Branch came up onto his feet picking the purple troll up with him as he went. 

The spiritual troll let out a noise of surprise as Branch did this and looked up at the prince with wide eyes. “Branch what are you doing?”

“Creek if you think I’m letting you out of my sight until I’ve had a chance to ask you a very important question then you really are daft.” As he said this the blue troll carefully placed the purple troll down onto his feet.

The spiritual troll was frowning at the prince with confusion. “Question what question could you have to ask me now you know I am the one you danced with?”

Slowly Branch smiled at Creek, the prince took the purple trolls left hand into his right and then went down on one knee. As soon as he did this the grey blue eyes of the spiritual troll went wide because he realised exactly what the prince was about to ask him and he could hardly believe that this was happening. “Will you marry me Creek?”

The purple troll could only nod to begin with and then from somewhere Creek finally managed to find his voice. “Yes Branch of course I will.”

Still holding onto Creek’s hand, the blue troll came up onto his feet smiling widely at the spiritual troll as he did so. Branch released the hand of the one he loved, the prince put his arms around Creek, closed his eyes and then kissed him softly but fully enjoying being able to kiss the spiritual troll as often as he wanted. The purple troll quickly closed his eyes, he eagerly returned this kiss thrilled to be kissing Branch again, he still found the blue troll’s kisses completely addictive and Creek looked forward to each one with eagerness. As Branch broke the kiss the spiritual troll let out a small noise of discontent, which caused the prince to smile down at him and say to him. “I could kiss you all day my love but I want to show my family that I have found you at last.” Slowly the blue troll removed his arms from around Creek, he then took one of the purple troll’s hands into his and then side by side the two trolls made their way through the troll tree to the royal pod.


	9. chapter nine

Chapter nine:

As the royal pod came into view Creek could feel worry starting to fill him, he was deeply concerned that the King and Queen would object to him marrying Branch because of their tempestuous past. The purple troll gently pulled the prince to a halt, the blue troll turned to look at the other troll concern was very clear in Branch’s eyes as their eyes met. Creek swallowed hard, then addressed the one he loved his voice full of worry as he did so. “Branch…Are you sure that King Peppy and Queen Rosiepuff won’t object to you marrying me?”

As he heard this question the blue troll felt relief fill him as he realised this was what was worrying Creek, this relief was soon overcome by a feeling of stupidity for not thinking to reassure the purple troll about his likely reception from his grandparent. Seeking to make sure that Creek knew everything was going to be alright, Branch smiled at the one he loved, he then used the hand he had hold of to pull Creek to him, the blue troll hugged him and the addressed the one he loved. “Creek I want you to listen to me closely, my grandparents have wanted me to find a troll to share my life with for a long time now, so as long as I love you, which I do then they are going to thrilled that I have found you and they are certainly not going to object to me marrying you. The fact you have returned my colours to me because you love me and make me happy, is also going to be something which will make them extremely happy about the fact that I have found you my love.” As the prince said this the spiritual troll let out a breath he hadn’t known that he had been holding, slowly Branch released Creek from the hug, the blue troll placed the silver mask back onto the face of the purple troll, who gave him a confused look, the prince just smiled at Creek and then took hold of his hand once more. “Are you ready to come with me now?”

“Yes I think so…But I’m still nervous about this.” The purple troll admitted to the one he loved.

Branch squeezed the hand he was holding and said to him as reassuringly as possible. “Trust me everything is going to be fine Creek.” The purple troll squeezed the hand of the one he loved back, and then gave him a nod which Branch returned and they set off again.

As they came into the royal pod Peppy noticed his grandson first, then that he was hand in hand with another troll who wore the mask of the troll from the ball, a few moments passed before Peppy recognised the hair of the other troll and then he realised that his grandson was blue as he had not been since his childhood. The older troll gasped with surprise at the sight of Branch with his colours returned and as he realised who the troll in the mask was, the King quickly got to his feet and then called out. “Rosiepuff! Poppy!”

Hearing the Kings shouting they quickly entered the main room of the royal pod, as Rosiepuff looked at the two trolls standing in the main room of the pod together and as her eyes settled on Branch she realised why her husband had called for her. When her eyes went from the now blue prince to the troll at his side, the Queen gasped when she too realised from the hair who this troll was her eyes went wide. “Oh my!”

Poppy on the other hand stood in the main room of the pod smiling widely at the couple standing before her, the princess was very glad to see her brother with his colours for the very first time. At the same time the pink troll said nothing about knowing that Creek had been the one behind the mask, she knew that her and the twins parts in all this were best kept secret, one look at the purple troll confirmed to Poppy that he didn’t want her to say anything about them all helping him to her brother and the pink troll gave him a quick small wink which caused Creek to smile a little in return.

Carefully Creek removed the mask from his face with his free hand, the purple troll handed the mask to the one he loved, as he did this Branch accepted the mask and addressed his family calmly but firmly. “As you can all see I have found the troll I danced with at the ball, I have asked Creek to marry me, he has accepted my proposal and I intend to marry him.”

Rosiepuff walked over to Peppy, she took his hand in hers, the King and Queen shared a smile and then the prince’s grandma ask him gently. “Do you love Creek?”

Branch smiled then a full wide smile, he gave his grandma a nod, he squeezed Creeks hand slightly with his own and then answered the question. “I do grandma, with all of my heart and soul.”

The Queen then turned her attention to the purple troll and asked him in a serious voice. “And you Creek, do you love Branch?”

He gave Rosiepuff a nod of his head before saying to her. “Yes, I love Branch, I love him for himself nothing more and nothing less.”

The smile on the Queens face at his answer was huge. “Well then, I think you will have to get use to calling me Rosiepuff Creek.”

Poppy spoke next still smiling widely. “I’m so glad that the two of you found each other. Well brother this is the first time I have seen your colours and how handsome they are! I think Creek you are going to be glad that you won my brother before all of the other trolls got to see him like this!” As the princess said this last part she shot her soon to be brother-in-law a teasing look.

“I think little sister you are quite correct about that.” Creek said giving the prince at his side a loving look as he spoke.

Branch smiled at the one he loved glad to hear that he liked his returned colours, then all eyes in the room turned to the still silent King Peppy, the old troll took a deep breath, he looked at Creek and then said to him with great seriousness. “You had better take good care of my grandson I don’t want to ever have to see him grey again understand?”

“I understand completely King Peppy.” Creek assured the King gravely.

Happy with this assurance from the spiritual troll Peppy gave him a nod before saying. “Good, I think it would be wise to have the wedding before the coronation, don’t you?” As the King asked this question he looked at Branch.

The prince gave his grandpa a nod and then addressed him. “Yes the wedding should be before the coronation, I’m not about to wait another five months before I marry Creek.”

The half determined and half horrified tone which the blue troll said this in caused all of the other trolls to start laughing at once, Branch also joined in, after a few moments the laughter died and then Creek said softly. “Well then I think that is settled.”

It was Peppy who spoke next. “Well then now the fact the wedding should be before Branch’s coronation has been settled on, I shall send a guard with this news to your mother Creek and ask her to come here to the royal pod so that we can set on a date for the wedding. Once Rain is here and we have settled on a date, then we can gather rest of the trolls together and make an announcement of your betrothal to the rest of the trolls.” As he finished speaking Peppy wrote Rain a note, he then summoned one of the royal guards and sent him with his note to Creek’s mother.

Half an hour later when Rain entered the royal pod she was out of breath and wide eyed, the light purple troll stopped dead at the sight of her son hand in hand with a blue troll. It took Rain a few moments to realise just who this troll was and when the light purple troll spoke to him it was with shock clear in her voice. “Branch you’re blue again.”

“Yes, I am blue once more, that is because I discovered Creek who I had been secretly in love with for some time now, was the one I danced with at the ball.”

Quickly Creek’s mother turned her attention to her son and asked him with awe in her voice. “You were the masked troll?”

“Yes mum I was.” The purple troll confirmed with a smile and a nod for his mother.

“Oh my…” Rain said clearly shocked.

Branch spoke to Creek’s mother at this moment. “We have more news for you.”

“More?” She asked her voice squeaking slightly as she asked the prince this question.

Creek and Branch looked at each other, the purple troll gave the one he loved a nod of permission and seeing this the prince addressed Rain once more. “I have asked Creek to marry me and he has accepted my proposal, I hope you have no objections.”

Rain looked at her son and said to him. “Are you in love with Branch Creek?”

“Yes mum I love him with all of my heart and he loves me with all of his.” Creek assured his mother with a truly happy smile on his face, which was followed by him giving the prince a loving look.  


The light purple troll smiled widely at her son, she was so glad to see Creek so happy and clearly in love after all he had been through lately. “I’m so glad you found a troll you can love so whole heartedly and I have no objections to you marrying Branch, he is a good troll, I know that Branch will take care of you and love you as you should be loved Creek. So when is the wedding going to be?”

“Well we wanted you to be here before we set a date, but Branch has stated he wishes to marry Creek before he is crowned King.” King Peppy told her with a grin and a chuckle for River.

Creek’s mother chuckled slightly she was unsurprised that after his long search that the prince would wish to marry the one he clearly truly loved sooner rather than later. “Well then, how long do we think a royal wedding will take to plan?”

It was Rosiepuff who stepped into the conversation at this moment. “I am sure that with all of the trolls of the tree helping us to organise everything we could have the wedding organised in two months easily.”

“Two months!” Branch exclaimed in horror really not wanting to have to wait that long to marry the troll he loved.

Creek kissed the one he loved on his cheek and then said soothingly to the prince. “Now love, this is a royal wedding it was bound to take some time.” It was only as the purple troll said this to him that Branch let out a sigh, he gave an understanding nod to the one he loved and surrendered to the fact he would have to wait two months to be married to Creek, but as the prince looked at the troll by his side he knew that this was one troll he was willing to wait to wed.

With the two months for the wedding to be organised settled upon, King Peppy called upon the royal guards to go and gather the trolls so the announcement of the prince’s betrothal could be made to them all. Once the guards had gathered up all of the trolls of the troll tree, the six trolls made their way down the troll tree to the mushroom platform in the clearing where the ball had been held. King Peppy held his hands up for silence, eventually it fell over all of the trolls and then Peppy addressed them. “My people, my grandson prince Branch has found the troll he was seeking with the mask it has caused the return of his colours. The troll in the mask was Creek and he has agreed to marry prince Branch their wedding will be held in two months’ time!”

As he spoke there was lots of shocked gasps from the trolls as they discovered Creek was the troll in the mask, Branch led him forward to the edge of the mushroom he lifted the silver mask so that all of the trolls could see it and they all fell quiet. Once the prince had made sure all of the trolls had seen the mask Branch carefully placed the mask onto the face of the purple troll, it glowed blue with his magic and staid firmly on Creeks face. When this happened all of the trolls’ present started to cheer, they were glad to see their prince with his colours once more and happy to see that Branch had found the troll he had been searching for so diligently.

Just as Rosiepuff had predicted after the announcement of the wedding had been made the rest of the trolls of the troll tree had without any prompting been more than happy to help the royal family with preparing everything for the wedding of Branch and Creek. Well nearly all of the trolls had been happy to lend their aid to this event, Leaf and Mist had not wanted to help at all but none of the other trolls were to surprise by this and ignored them when they tried to disrupt their work. For the troll’s seeing their prince, smile and laugh had been a wonderful gift and they were truly grateful to Creek for making Branch be able to do both of those things. The first time the trolls all heard their prince sing, they had been amazed by the beauty of his voice and they had become even more respectful towards Creek as they were all well aware of the fact that he was the reason Branch sang.

 

Two months later it was time for the royal wedding, Rain came into her son’s room in their pod, she stopped at sight of her son and smiled with pride and joy at the sight of him. Creek was dressed in a white well fitted suite, it was embroidered with a celtic silver pattern at the wrists and on the lapels, he also wore a silver waistcoat. The light purple troll felt that today her son looked every inch the future prince of their kingdom and she wished Creek’s father Lotus could be here to see him today. The purple troll took a deep breath, he looked down at his hands which shook slightly with nervousness, as Creek’s eyes focused on the slender white gold band with a royal glue stone which marked his betrothal on his middle finger and the spiritual troll felt a wave of joy and calmness come over him. “You look very handsome Creek.” Rain said softly and proudly to her son as she crossed the room to stand in front of him.

“Thank you mum.” The spiritual troll said with a smile for his mother.

“I wish your father were here, Lotus would have been so proud of you…” As she spoke tears gathered in her eyes and Creek quickly handed her a purple handkerchief from the pocket of his trousers.

“Don’t cry mum, this is a happy day.” The spiritual troll told her in a soft voice, Rain took a few deep breaths to regain control, she gave her son a nod and then handed the handkerchief back. The purple troll accepted it back, he then put the purple handkerchief back into his pocket before addressing his mother once again. “Is it time?” As Creek asked his mother this question his voice was shaking slightly as he spoke.

Hearing the nerves in his voice Creek’s mother quickly took his hands into hers and sought to reassure her son. “Yes son it is time, but don’t be nervous Branch is waiting for you.”

The spiritual troll took another deep breath he let it out again and then Creek gave his mother a smile as he said to her. “Well then let’s not keep my prince waiting any longer.”

Knowing that he would be alright now Rain let go of Creek’s hands, she then took her son’s arm into hers and escorted him from their pod down to the clearing before the mushroom. When they arrived at the end of the clearing all of the trolls of the troll tree stood respectfully as Creek entered and walked passed them towards Branch. The spiritual troll only had eyes for the prince, he looked as handsome today as he had at the ball, he wore a deep royal blue suite, the silver embroidery was identical to Creeks and his waistcoat also matched that of the one he loved. Today though as this was a royal occasion Branch had on his head the simple silver crown which marked his current rank as prince of the trolls. When Creek reached his side, Rain placed her sons hand into that of the blue troll, she smiled with absolute joy at them both, the light purple troll then stepped back and gave King Peppy who was marrying them the signal to begin which he did.

Soon enough it was time for Branch and Creek to exchange their vows, the prince as tradition dictated was the first out of the couple to speak his vows to the one he loved. “My father used to tell me all about true love, when I became grey I never thought I would find it, but I found my true love in you and I will love you Creek with all of my heart now and always. I am proud to promise before all these witnesses that from this day forward I am your faithful husband and I shall be ever more.” As he finished speaking Branch took Creek’s left hand into his right and gently placed onto his middle finger a simple gold band.

With this done it was Creek’s turn to make his vows to Branch. “I never thought true love could exist until I found myself in love with you, I love you Branch with all of my heart and I always will. I am proud to promise before all these witnesses that from this day forward I am your faithful husband and I shall be ever more.” The purple troll took the prince’s left hand into his right and carefully placed onto Branch’s middle finger his own identical gold band.

Peppy smiled at the young couple before declaring. “I now pronounce you married you may kiss.”

The blue troll didn’t need to be told twice, he took hold of Creek’s waist pulled him in and kissed his new husband firmly on the lips. Quickly the spiritual troll brought his hands up, he took hold of Branch’s shoulders and then kissed him back. As the two trolls broke this kiss, all of the trolls started to cheer for them, the blue troll smiled down at the purple troll and then released Creek. Rosiepuff brought over to Branch a purple pillow on which was settled a silver crown to match the one the blue troll wore. Carefully the prince took the crown from the pillow, Creek carefully lowered his head and once the purple troll had done this, Branch then placed the crown onto the head of his new husband. The blue troll offered his hand to Creek, the new prince of the troll tree took Branch’s hand, he then let his husband help him to stand and then hand in hand the newly married couple walked back down the aisle together. As the two princes walked back down the aisle all of the troll cheered for them, the party which was held for the royal wedding was huge, as all of the trolls of the troll tree celebrated the wedding in style for several days.

 

Three months later all of the trolls gathered together once more, together all dressed in their finest King Peppy, Queen Rosiepuff, prince Branch, prince Creek and princess Poppy came into the clearing were the ball and the wedding had been held, today was the day when Branch would become King of the trolls. In a simple ceremony King Peppy retired from his throne, the King turned to his grandson and spoke to him. “Come forward Branch and kneel.” The blue troll did as his grandpa asked, the old troll took Branch’s silver crown off and handed it to the waiting royal guard, with this done Peppy took off his gold crown off and placed it onto the head of his grandson. “I retired my throne today to you my grandson. Hail to the King! Hail to King Branch!” As his Peppy yelled this to the other trolls, they echoed it back and slowly Branch stood.

As the shouts died down the new King was approached by Queen Rosiepuff, she curtsied low to him and the blue troll carefully took her gold crown from her head and handed it to his grandpa who stood at his left side. Once Branch had done this the former Queen rose, she then moved to stand at her grandson’s right side. The blue troll held his hand out towards Creek, the purple troll walked forward, he knelt down before his husband, who lifted from his head the silver crown he handed this crown to Rosiepuff who accepted it. Branch turned to his grandpa he took hold of the gold crown Peppy had been holding, the blue troll turned back to his husband with the crown in his hands, the King then lowered the gold crown onto Creek’s head and once he had done this Branch helped the purple troll onto his feet. Once he was on his feet once more Creek moved to stand at the left side of his husband, the blue troll held his arm out to the one he loved and with a smile Creek lay his arm along Branch’s placing his hand atop his husbands. 

The trolls cheered the royal couple, tradition dictated that at this point Branch as the new King should make a speech and as the other trolls quietened he spoke to his people. “Today I have become your King, I promise that I shall do my best to keep you all safe and happy for the rest of my reign until my heir takes the throne after me. As I am no longer grey you need not fear that my reign will be one of gloom, though I shall always be serious due to the many years I spent grey, I have my husband Creek at my side and he will help to make sure that my serious nature is balanced with his own joyful one. Now let us do what we do best and celebrate!”

The trolls didn’t need telling twice, the party to celebrate the crowning of their new King and his consort quickly began, this celebration lasted for a whole three days, most of which Branch and Creek walked amongst their people making sure to spend time talking to them all. The blue and purple troll would go down in history as wise, good and kind rulers of the trolls and in time the royal couple would have two sons, the eldest was called Sky and the younger Lotus, these two trolls were a wonderful mixture of both their parents. Creek and Branch were also recorded in the history as two trolls who loved each other truly all of their lives, to the extent that when they died together and were buried together. Poppy would many years after the all of this happened find a troll of her own to love the princess loved him as much as her brother loved his husband, this troll was a sparkling grey troll prince Diamond, he was a younger son of the royal family of the mountain trolls which was a kingdom far away from Poppy’s home. When they married the princess and her husband Diamond did not return to his home kingdom instead they with his families and her families blessing they stayed at the troll tree where they made their home and had their family of four daughters. As for Leaf and Mist after they had spent their year working in the fields the two trolls left the troll tree never to return to it.


End file.
